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THE    EXPOSITOR'S   BIBLE 


EDITED   BY  THE  REV. 


W.    ROBERTSON    NICOLL,    M.A.,    LL.D. 

Editor  of  **  The  Expositor"  tic. 


THE     SECOND     EPISTLE     TO    THE 
CORINTHIANS 


JAMES    DENNEY,    D.D. 


NEW    YORK 

A.    C.    ARMSTONG    AND    SON 

51    EAST    TENTH    STREET 
1900 


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rHE  SECOiND  EPISTLE  TO 
CORINTHIANS 


/     BY 

JAMES  DENNEY,  D.D. 


SECOND    EDITION 


NEW    YORK 

A.    C.    ARMSTRONG    AND    SON 

51    EAST    TENTH    STREET 

1900 


Printed  by  Hctzell,  Watson,  &  Viney,  London  and  Aylesbury.  England, 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION I 


I 

SUFFERING   AND   CONSOLATION lO 

II 

FAITH    BORN    OF    DESPAIR 23 

III 

THE   church's    ONE   FOUNDATION  .  .  .  -35 

IV 

CHRISTIAN    MYSTERIES 47 

V 

A   pastor's    HEART 59 

VI 

CHURCH    DISCIPLINE 7? 


vi  CONTENTS 


VII 

PAGE 

Christ's  captive 84 


VIII 
LIVING   EPISTLES 99 

IX 
THE   TWO   COVENANTS 1 1  :? 

X 

THE   TRANSFIGURING   SPIRIT 127 

XI 

THE  GOSPEL  DEFINED  .  .  .  .  .  -144 

XII 
THE   VICTORY   OF    FAITH 157 

XIII 
THE   CHRISTIAN    HOPE I  73 

XIV 
THE   MEASURE   OF   CHRIST's    LOVE  .  .  .  .    186 

XV 
THE   NEW  WORLD 198 


CONTENTS  vii 


XVI 

PAGE 

RECONCILIATION 210 


XVII 

THE   SIGNS   OF   AN   APOSTLE 224 

XVIII 
NEW   TESTAMENT   PURITANISM 237 

XIX 
REPENTANCE   UNTO    LIFE 248 

XX 

THE   GRACE    OF    LIBERALITY 262 

XXI 
THE    FRUirS   OF   LIBERALITY  .....    274 

XXII 
WAR 289 

XXIII 
COMPARISONS 300 

XXiV 
GODLY   JEALOUSY 3 12 


CONTENTS 


XXV 

PAGE 

FOOLISH    BOASTING 325 

XXVI 
STRENGTH   AND   WEAKNESS 342 

XXVII 
NOT   YOURS,    BUT   YOU 359 

XXVIII 
CONCLUSION 372 


INTRODUCTION 

INTRODUCTION,  in  the  scientific  sense,  is  not 
part  of  the  expositor's  task  ;  but  it  is  convenient, 
especially  when  introduction  and  exposition  have  im- 
portant bearings  on  each  other,  that  the  expositor 
should  indicate  his  opinion  on  the  questions  common 
to  both  departments.  This  is  the  purpose  of  the  state- 
ment which  follows. 

(i)  The  starting-point  for  every  inquiry  into  the 
relations  between  St.  Paul  and  the  Corinthians,  so  far 
as  they  concern  us  here,  is  to  be  found  in  the  close 
connexion  between  the  two  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians 
which  we  possess.  This  close  connexion  is  not  a 
hypothesis,  of  greater  or  less  probability,  like  so  much 
that  figures  in  Introductions  to  the  Second  Epistle  ; 
it  is  a  large  and  solid  fact,  which  is  worth  more  for 
our  guidance  than  the  most  ingenious  conjectural 
combination.  Stress  has  been  justly  laid  on  this  by 
Holtzmann,^  who  illustrates  the  general  fact  by  details. 
Thus  2  Cor.  i.  8-10,  ii.  12,  13,  attach  themselves  im- 
mediately to  the  situation  described  in  i  Cor.  xvi.  8,  9. 
Similarly  in  2  Cor.  i.  12  there  seems  to  be  a  distinct 
echo  of  I  Cor.  ii.  4-14.  More  important  is  the  un- 
questionable reference  in  2  Cor.  i.  13-17,  2^^  to  i  Cor. 
xvi.  5.     From  a  comparison  of  these  two  passages  it 

'  Einleitung,  2nd  ed.,  p.  255  f. 


2       THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

is  plain  that  before  Paul  wrote  either  he  had  had  an 
intention,  of  which  the  Corinthians  were  aware,  to  visit 
Corinth  in  a  certain  way.  He  was  to  leave  Ephcsus, 
sail  straight  across  the  sea  to  Corinth,  go  from  Corinth 
to  Macedonia,  and  then  return,  via  Corinth,  to  Asia 
again.  In  other  words,  on  this  tour  he  was  to  visit 
I  Corinth  twice.  In  the  last  chapter  of  the  First  Epistle, 
he  announces  a  change  of  plan  :  he  is  not  going  to 
Corinth  direct,  but  via  Macedonia,  and  the  Corinthians 
are  only  to  see  him  once.  He  does  not  say,  in  the 
First  Epistle,  why  he  has  changed  his  plan,  but  the 
announcement  caused  great  dissatisfaction  in  Corinth. 
Some  said  he  was  a  fickle  creature ;  some  said  he  was 
afraid  to  show  face.  This  is  the  situation  to  which  the 
Second  Epistle  directly  addresses  itself;  the  very  first 
thing  Paul  does  in  it  is  to  explain  and  justify  the 
change  of  plan  announced  in  the  First.  It  was  not 
fickleness,  he  says,  nor  cowardice,  that  made  him 
change  his  mind,  but  the  desire  to  spare  the  Corinth- 
ians and  himself  the  pain  which  a  visit  paid  at  the 
moment  would  certainly  inflict.  The  close  connexion 
between  our  two  Epistles,  which  on  this  point  is  un- 
questionable, may  be  further  illustrated.  Thus,  not  to 
point  to  general  resemblances  in  feeling  or  temper,  the 
correspondence  is  at  least  suggestive  between  a'yvo^  iv 
Tft)  TTpdy/jLaTL,  2  Cor.  vii.  1 1  (cf.  the  use  of  irpayfjua  in 
I  Thess.  iv.  6),  and  Toiavrr)  iropveia  in  I  Cor.  v.  i  ; 
between  ev  TrpoacoTro)  Xpio-rov,  2  Cor.  ii.  lo,  and  iv  too 
ovofMarc  rod  K.  tj/jlwv  'J.  X.,  I  Cor.  v.  4 ;  between  the 
mention  of  Satan  in  2  Cor.  ii.  1 1  and  i  Cor.  v.  5  ; 
between  TrevOelv  in  2  Cor.  xii.  21  and  i  Cor.  v.  2  ; 
between  7oiovto<;  and  ra  in  2  Cor.  ii.  6  t.,  2  Cor.  ii.  5, 
and  the  same  words  in  i  Cor.  v.  5  and  i  Cor.  v.  i.  If 
all  these  are  carefully  examined  and  compared,  I  think 


INTRODUCTION 


it  becomes  extremely  difficult  to  believe  that  in  2  Cor. 
ii.  5  ff.  and  in  2  Cor.  vii.  8  ff.  the  Apostle  is  dealing  with 
anything  else   than   the  case  of  the  sinner  treated  in 

1  Cor.  V.  The  coincidences  in  detail  would  be  very 
striking  under  any  circumstances ;  but  in  combination 
with  the  fact  that  the  two  Epistles,  as  has  just  been 
shown  by  the  explanation  of  the  change  of  purpose 
about  the  journey,  are  in  the  closest  connexion  with 
each  other,  they  seem  to  me  to  come  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  demonstration. 

(2)  If  this  view  is  accepted,  it  is  natural  and  justifi- 
able to  explain  the  Second  Epistle  as  far  as  possible  out 
of  the  First.  Thus  the  letter  to  which  St.  Paul  refers 
in  2  Cor.  ii.  4  and  in  2  Cor.  vii.  8,  12,  will  be  our  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians ;  the  persons  referred  to  in 

2  Cor.  vii.  12  as  **  he  who  did  the  wrong  "  and  ''he  to 
whom  the  WTong  was  done  "  will  be  the  son  and  the 
father  in  i  Cor.  v.  i .  There  are,  indeed,  many  who 
think  that  it  is  absurd  to  speak  of  the  First  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  as  written  '*  out  of  much  afQiction  and 
anguish  of  heart  and  with  many  tears " ;  and  who 
cannot  imagine  that  Paul  would  speak  of  a  great  sin 
and  crime,  like  that  of  the  incestuous  person,  in  such 
language  as  he  employs  in  2  Cor.  ii.  5  ff.  and  2  Cor. 
vii.  12.  Such  language,  they  argue,  suits  far  better 
the  case  of  a  personal  injury,  an  insult  or  outrage  of 
which  Paul — either  in  person  or  in  one  of  his  deputies 
— had  been  the  victim  at  Corinth.  Hence  they  argue 
for  an  intermediate  visit  of  a  very  painful  character, 
and  for  an  intermediate  letter,  now  lost,  dealing  with 
this  painful  incident.  Paul,  w^e  are  to  suppose,  visited 
Corinth  on  the  business  of  1  Cor.  v.  (among  other 
things),  and  there  suffered  a  great  humiliation.  He 
was  defied  by  the  guilty  man  and  his  friends,  and  had 


4       THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

to  leave  the  Church  without  effecting  anything.  Then 
he  wrote  the  extremely  severe  letter  to  which  ii.  4 
refers — a  letter  which  was  carried  by  Titus,  and  which 
produced  the  change  on  which  he  congratulates  him- 
self in  ii.  5  ff.  and  vii.  8  ff.  It  is  obvious  that  this  whole 
combination  is  hypothetical ;  and  hence,  though  many 
have  been  attracted  by  it,  it  appears  with  an  infinite 
variety  of  detail.  It  is  obvious  also  that  the  grounds 
on  which  it  rests  are  subjective  ;  it  is  a  question  on 
which  men  will  differ  to  the  end  of  time,  whether  the 
language  in  2  Cor.  ii.  4  is  an  apt  description  of  the  mood 
in  which  Paul  wrote  (at  least  certain  parts  of)  the  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  or  whether  the  language  in 
2  Cor.  ii.  5  ff.,  vii.  8  ff.  is  becoming  language  in  which 
to  close  proceedings  like  those  opened  in  i  Cor.  v.  If 
many  have  believed  that  it  is  not,  many,  on  the  other 
hand,  have  no  difficulty  in  believing  that  it  is ;  and 
those  who  take  the  negative  not  only  fail  to  explain 
the  series  of  verbal  correspondences  detailed  above, 
but  dissolve  the  connexion  between  our  two  Epistles 
altogether.  Thus  Godet  allows  more  than  a  3^ear, 
crowded  with  events,  to  come  between  them.  In  view 
of  the  palpable  fact  with  which  we  started,  I  cannot 
but  think  this  quite  incredible  :  it  is  far  easier  to 
suppose  that  the  proceedings  about  the  incestuous 
person  took  a  complexion  which  made  Paul's  language 
in  the  second  and  seventh  chapters  natural  than  to 
come  to  any  confident  conviction  about  this  hypothetical 
visit  and  letter. 

(3)  But  the  visit,  it  may  be  said,  at  all  events,  is  not 
hypothetical.  It  is  distinctly  alluded  to  in  2  Cor.  ii.  i, 
xii.  14,  xiii.  i.  These  passages  are  discussed  in  the 
exposition.  The  two  last  are  certainly  not  decisive; 
there  are  good  scholars  who  hold  the  same  opinion  of 


INTRODUCTION 


the  first.  Heinrici,  for  instance,  maintains  that  Paul 
had  only  been  once  in  Corinth  when  he  wrote  the 
Second  Epistle ;  it  was  the  third  time  he  was  starting, 
but  once  his  intention  had  been  frustrated  or  deferred, 
so  that  when  he  reached  Corinth  it  would  only  be  his 
second  visit.  A  case  can  be  stated  for  this,  but  in  view 
of  chap.  ii.  i  and  chap.  xiii.  2,  I  do  not  see  that  it  can 
be  easily  maintained.  These  passages  practically  com- 
pel us  to  assume  that  Paul  had  already  visited  Corinth 
a  second  time,  and  had  had  very  painful  experiences 
there.  But  the  close  connexion  of  our  Epistles  equally 
compels  us  to  assume  that  this  second  visit  belongs  to 
an  earlier  date  than  our  first  canonical  Epistle,  We 
know  nothing  of  it  except  that  it  was  not  pleasant,  and 
that  Paul  was  very  willing  to  save  both  himself  and  the 
Corinthians  the  repetition  of  such  an  experience.  It  is 
nothing  against  this  view  that  the  visit  in  question  is 
not  referred  to  in  Acts  or  in  the  first  letter.  Hardly 
anything  in  chap.  xi.  24  ff.  is  known  to  us  from  Acts,  and 
probably  we  should  never  have  known  of  this  journey 
unless  in  explaining  the  change  of  purpose  which  the 
first  letter  announced  it  had  occurred  to  Paul  to  say  : 
"I  did  not  wish  to  come  when  it  could  only  vex  you  ; 
I  had  enough  of  that  before." 

(4)  As  for  the  letter,  which  is  supposed  to  be  referred 
to  in  2  Cor.  ii.  4,  it  also  has  been  relieved  of  its 
hypothetical  character  by  being  identified  with  chaps. 
X.  I — xiii.  10  of  our  present  Second  Epistle.  In  the 
absence  of  the  faintest  external  indication  that  the 
Epistle  ever  existed  in  any  other  than  its  present  form, 
it  is  perhaps  superfluous  to  treat  this  seriously  ;  but 
the  comment  of  Godet  seems  to  me  sufficiently  to 
dispose  of  it.  The  hypothetical  letter  in  question — in 
which    Godet    himself  believes — must    have    had    two 


6       THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

main  objects  :  first,  to  accredit  Titus,  who  is  assumed 
to  have  carried  it,  as  the  representative  of  Paul ;  and, 
second,  to  insist  on  reparation  for  the  assumed  personal 
outrage  of  which  Paul  had  been  the  victim  on  his 
recent  visit.  This  second  object,  at  all  events,  is  in- 
disputable. But  chaps.  X.  I — xiii.  lo  have  no  reference 
whatever  to  either  of  these  things,  and  are  wholly 
taken  up  with  what  the  Apostle  means  to  do,  when  he 
comes  to  Corinth  the  third  time ;  they  refer  not  to 
this  (imaginary)  insolent  person,  but  to  the  misbeliev- 
ing and  the  immoral  in  general. 

(5)  Except  in  the  points  specified,  the  interpretation 
of  the  Epistle  is  little  affected  by  the  questions  raised 
in  Introduction.  Even  in  the  points  specified  it  is  the 
historical  reference,  not  the  ethical  import,  which  is 
affected.  Whichever  view  we  take  of  them,  we  get 
on  the  whole  substantially  the  same  impression  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ  as  it  lives  and  works  in  the  soul  of  the 
Apostle.  It  is  part  of  the  man's  greatness,  it  is  the 
seal  of  his  inspiration,  that  in  his  hands  the  temporal 
becomes  eternal,  the  incidental  loses  its  purely  in- 
cidental character,  and  has  significance  for  all  time. 
It  is  the  expositor's  task  to  deal  with  the  spiritual 
rather  than  the  historical  side,  and  it  will  be  sufficient 
here  to  indicate  in  outline  what  I  conceive  the  series  of 
Paul's  relations  with  the  Corinthians  to  have  been. 

(6)  His  first  visit  to  Corinth  was  that  which  is 
recorded  in  Acts  xviii. ;  according  to  the  statement  of 
ver.  II  it  extended  over  a  period  of  eighteen  months. 
In  all  probability  he  had  many  communications  with 
the  Church,  through  deputies  whom  he  commissioned, 
in  the  years  during  which  he  was  absent ;  the  form  of 
the  question  in  2  Cor.  xii.  17  (yar;  nva  wv  direaraXKa 
TTjOO?  vfxd^;  K.T.X.)  implies  as  much.     But  it  is  only  after 


INTRODUCTION 


his  coming  to  Ephcsus,  in  the  course  of  his  third 
missionary  journey,  that  personal  intercourse  with 
Corinth  can  have  been  resumed.  To  this  period  I 
should  refer  the  visit  which  we  are  bound  to  assume 
on  the  ground  of  2  Cor.  ii.  i,  xiii.  2.  What  the  occa- 
sion was,  or  what  the  circumstances,  we  cannot  tell ; 
all  we  know  is  that  it  was  painful,  and  perhaps 
disappointing.  Paul  had  used  grave  and  threatening 
language  on  this  occasion  (2  Cor.  xiii.  2),  but  he  had 
been  obliged  to  tolerate  some  things  which  he  would 
rather  have  seen  otherwise.  This  visit  was  probably 
made  toward  the  close  of  the  three  years'  stay  in 
Ephesus,  and  the  letter  referred  to  in  i  Cor.  v.  9 — the 
one  in  which  he  warned  the  Corinthians  not  to  associate 
with  fornicators — would  most  likely  be  written  on  his 
return  from  it.  In  this  letter  he  may  very  naturally 
have  announced  that  purpose  of  visiting  Corinth  twice 
—once  on  his  way  to  Macedonia,  and  again  on  his 
way  back — to  which  reference  has  already  been  made. 
This  letter,  plainly,  did  not  serve  its  purpose,  and  not 
long  afterwards  Paul  received  at  Ephesus  deputies 
from  the  Corinthian  Church  (i  Cor.  xvi.  17),  who 
apparently  brought  written  instructions  with  them,  in 
which  Paul's  judgment  was  sought  -more  minutely  on 
a  variety  of  ethical  questions  (i  Cor.  vii.  i).  Before 
these  deputies  arrived,  or  at  all  events  before  Paul 
wrote  the  letter  (our  First  Epistle)  in  which  he  addressed 
himself  to  the  state  of  affairs  in  Corinth  which  their 
reports  had  disclosed,  Timothy  had  left  Ephesus  on  a 
journey  of  some  interest.  Paul  meant  Corinth  to  be 
his  destination  (i  Cor.  iv.  17),  but  he  had  to  go  via 
Macedonia,  and  the  Apostle  was  not  certain  that  he 
would  get  so  far  (i  Cor.  xvi.  10:  ''But  //Timothy 
come,"  etc.).     In  point  of  fact,  he  does  not  seem  to  have 


8       THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

gone  farther  than  Macedonia  ;  and  Luke  in  Acts  xix.  22 
mentions  Macedonia  as  the  place  to  which  he  had  been 
sent.  That  he  got  no  farther  is  suggested  also  by 
the  fact  that  Paul  joins  his  name  with  his  own  in  the 
salutation  of  the  Second  Epistle,  which  was  written  in 
Macedonia,  but  never  hints  that  he  owed  to  him  any 
information  whatever  on  the  state  of  the  Corinthian 
Church.  All  that  he  knew  of  this,  and  of  the  effect  of 
his  first  letter,  he  learned  from  Titus  (2  Cor.  ii.  13, 
vii.  13  f.).  But  how  did  Titus  happen  to  be  in  Corinth 
representing  Paul  ?  By  far  the  happiest  suggestion 
here  is  that  which  makes  Titus  and  the  brother  of 
2  Cor.  xii.  1 8  the  same  as  ''  the  brethren  "  of  i  Cor. 
xvi.  12,  whose  return  from  Corinth  Paul  expected  in 
the  company  of  Timothy.  Timothy,  as  we  have  seen, 
did  not  get  so  far.  Paul's  departure  from  Ephesus  was 
apparently  hastened  by  a  great  peril ;  his  anxiety,  too, 
to  hear  the  effect  produced  by  that  letter  which  had 
cost  him  so  much — our  First  Epistle — was  very  great ; 
he  pressed  on,  past  Troas,  where  a  fair  field  of  labour 
waited  for  workers,  and  finally  encountered  Titus  in 
Macedonia,  and  heard  his  report. 

(7)  This  is  the  point  at  which  the  Second  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  begins.  It  falls  of  itself  into  three 
clearly  marked  divisions.  The  first  extends  over 
chaps,  i.-vii.  In  this  the  Apostle  makes  his  peace,  so 
to  speak,  with  the  Corinthians,  and  does  everything  in 
his  power  to  remove  any  feeling  of  "  soreness  "  which 
might  linger  in  their  minds  over  his  rigorous  treatment 
of  one  particular  offender.  But  embedded  in  this  there 
is  a  magnificent  vindication  of  the  spiritual  apostolic 
ministry,  especially  in  contrast  with  that  of  the  legalists, 
and  an  appeal  for  love  and  confidence  such  as  he  had 
always  bestowed  on  the  Church,     Chaps,  viii.  and  ix. 


INTRODUCTION 


form  the  second  part,  and  are  devoted  to  the  collection 
which  was  being  made  in  the  Gentile  Churches  for 
poor  Christians  in  Jerusalem.  The  third  part  consists 
of  chaps.  X.  to  xiii.  In  this  Paul  confronts  the  dis- 
orders which  still  assert  themselves  in  the  Church  ;  the 
pretensions  of  certain  Judaists,  "  superlative  apostles  " 
as  he  calls  them,  who  were  assailing  his  apostolic 
vocation  and  subverting  his  gospel ;  and  the  immoral 
licence  of  others,  presumably  once  pagans,  who  used 
liberty  for  a  cloak  to  the  flesh.  He  writes  of  both 
with  unsparing  severity,  yet  he  does  not  wish  to  be 
severe.  He  parts  from  the  Church  with  words  of  un- 
affected love,  and  includes  them  all  in  his  benediction. 


SUFFERING  AND   CONSOLATION 

"Paul,  an  apostle  of  Christ  Jesus  through  the  will  of  God,  and 
Timothy  our  brother,  unto  the  Church  of  God  which  is  at  Corinth, 
with  all  the  saints  which  are  in  the  whole  of  Achaia  :  Grace  to  you 
and  peace  from  God  our  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Father  of  mercies  and  God  of  all  comfort;  who  comforteth  us  in  all 
our  affliction,  that  we  may  be  able  to  comfort  them  that  are  in  any 
affliction,  through  the  comfort  wherewith  we  ourselves  are  comforted 
of  God.  For  as  the  sufferings  of  Christ  abound  unto  us,  even  so  our 
comfort  also  aboundeth  through  Christ.  But  whether  we  be  afflicted, 
it  is  for  your  comfort  and  salvation ;  or  whether  we  be  comforted,  it 
is  for  your  comfort,  which  worketh  in  the  patient  enduring  of  the 
same  sufferings  which  we  also  suffer:  and  our  hope  for  you  is 
stedfast ;  knowing  that,  as  ye  are  partakers  of  the  sufferings,  so  also 
are  ye  of  the  comfort." — 2  Cor.  i.  1-7  (R.V.). 

THE  greeting  with  which  St.  Paul  introduces  his 
Epistles  is  much  alike  in  them  all,  but  it  never 
becomes  a  mere  formality,  and  ought  not  to  pass  unre- 
garded as  such.  It  describes,  as  a  rule,  the  character 
in  which  he  writes,  and  the  character  in  which  his 
correspondents  are  addressed.  Here  he  is  an  apostle 
of  Jesus  Christ,  divinely  commissioned ;  and  he 
addresses  a  Christian  community  at  Corinth,  includ- 
ing in  it,  for  the  purposes  of  his  letter,  the  scattered 
Christians  to  be  found  in  the  other  quarters  of  Achaia. 
His  letters  are  occasional,  in  the  sense  that  some 
special  incident  or  situation  called  them  forth ;  but  this 

10 


i.  1-7.]  SUFFERING  AND  CONSOLATION  11 


occasional  character  does  not  lessen  their  value.  He 
addresses  liimself  to  the  incident  or  situation  in  the 
consciousness  of  his  apostolic  vocation ;  he  writes  to 
a  Church  constituted  for  permanence,  or  at  least  for 
such  duration  as  this  transitor}'  world  can  have  ;  and 
what  we  have  in  his  Epistles  is  not  a  series  o^  obiter 
dicta,  the  casual  utterances  of  an  irresponsible  person ; 
it  is  the  mind  of  Christ  authoritatively  given  upon  the 
questions  raised.  When  he  includes  any  other  person 
in  the  salutation — as  in  this  place  "  Timothy  our 
brother  " — it  is  rather  as  a  mark  of  courtesy,  than  as 
adding  to  the  Epistle  another  authority  besides  his  own. 
Timothy  had  helped  to  found  the  Church  at  Corinth ; 
Paul  had  shown  great  anxiety  about  his  reception  by 
the  Corinthians,  when  he  started  to  visit  that  turbulent 
Church  alone  (i  Cor.  xvi.  lo  f.) ;  and  in  this  new  letter 
he  honours  him  in  their  eyes  by  uniting  his  name  with 
his  own  in  the  superscription.  The  Apostle  and  his 
affectionate  fellow-worker  wish  the  Corinthians,  as  they 
wished  all  the  Churches,  grace  and  peace  from  God  our 
Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  expound  afresh  the  meaning  and  connexion  of  these  > 
two  New  Testament  ideas  :  grace  is  the  first  and  last 
word  of  the  Gospel ;  and  peace — perfect  spiritual 
soundness — is  the  finished  work  of  grace  in  the  soul. 
The  Apostle's  greeting  is  usually  followed  by  a 
thanksgiving,  in  which  he  recalls  the  conversion  of 
those  to  whom  he  is  writing,  or  surveys  their  progress 
in  the  new  life,  and  the  improvement  of  their  gifts, 
gratefully  acknowledging  God  as  the  author  of  all. 
Thus  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  he  thanks 
God  for  the  grace  given  to  them  in  Christ  Jesus,  and 
especially  for  their  Christian  enrichment  in  all  utterance 
and  in  all  knowledge.     So,  too,  but  with  deeper  grati- 


12     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

tude,  he  dwells  on  the  virtues  of  the  Thessalonians, 
remembering  their  work  of  faith,  and  labour  of  love, 
and  patience  of  hope.  Here  also  there  is  a  thanks- 
giving, but  at  the  first  glance  of  a  totally  different 
character.  The  Apostle  blesses  God,  not  for  what  He 
has  done  for  the  Corinthians,  but  for  what  He  has  done 
for  himself.  ''  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  mercies  and  God  of 
all  comfort,  who  comforteth  us  in  all  our  tribulation." 
This  departure  from  the  Apostle's  usual  custom  is 
probably  not  so  selfish  as  it  looks.  When  his  mind 
travelled  down  from  Philippi  to  Corinth,  it  rested  on  the 
spiritual  aspects  of  the  Church  there  with  anything  but 
unrelieved  satisfaction.  There  w^as  much  for  which  he 
could  not  possibly  be  thankful ;  and  just  as  the  momen- 
tary apostasy  of  the  Galatians  led  to  his  omitting  the 
thanksgiving  altogether,  so  the  unsettled  mood  in  which 
he  wrote  to  the  Corinthians  gave  it  this  peculiar  turn. 
Nevertheless,  when  he  thanked  God  for  comforting 
him  in  all  his  afflictions,  he  thanked  Him  on  their 
behalf  It  was  they  who  were  eventually  to  have  the 
profit  both  of  his  sorrows  and  his  consolations.  Pro- 
bably, too,  there  is  something  here  which  is  meant 
to  appeal  even  to  those  who  disliked  him  in  Corinth. 
There  had  been  a  good  deal  of  friction  between  the 
Apostle  and  some  who  had  once  owned  him  as  their 
father  in  Christ ;  they  were  blaming  him,  at  this  very 
moment,  for  not  coming  to  visit  them ;  and  in  this 
thanksgiving,  which  dilates  on  the  afQictions  he  has 
endured,  and  on  the  divine  consolation  he  has  expe- 
rienced in  them,  there  is  a  tacit  appeal  to  the  sympathy 
even  of  hostile  spirits.  Do  not,  he  seems  to  say,  deal 
ungenerously  with  one  who  has  passed  through  such 
terrible  experiences,  and  lays  the  fruit  of  them  at  youi- 


i.  1-7.]  SUFFERING  AND   CONSOLATION  13 

feet.  Chrysostom  presses  this  view,  as  if  St.  Paul  had 
written  his  thanksgiving  in  the  character  of  a  subtle 
diplomatist :  to  judge  by  one's  feeling,  it  is  true  enough 
to  deserve  mention.^ 

The  subject  of  the  thanksgiving  is  the  Apostle's 
sufferings,  and  his  experience  of  God's  mercies  under 
them.  He  expressly  calls  them  the  sufferings  of  Christ. 
These  sufferings,  he  says,  abound  toward  us.  Christ 
was  the  greatest  of  sufferers :  the  flood  of  pain  and 
sorrow  went  over  His  head  ;  all  its  waves  and  billows 
broke  upon  Him.  The  Apostle  was  caught  and  over- . 
whelmed  b}^  the  same  stream  ;  the  waters  came  into 
his  soul.  That  is  the  meaning  of  ra  iradi^fiara  tov 
Xptarov  Trepiaaevec  el^;  r)/jLd<^.  In  abundant  measure  the 
disciple  was  initiated  into  his  Master's  stern  experience ; 
he  learned,  what  he  prayed  to  learn,  the  fellowship  of 
His  sufferings.  The  boldness  of  the  language  in  which"; 
a  mortal  man  calls  his  own  afflictions  the  sufferings  ot 
Christ  is  far  from  unexampled  in  the  New  Testament. 
It  is  repeated  by  St.  Paul  in  Col.  i.  24 :  ''I  now  rejoice 
in  my  sufferings  on  your  behalf,  and  fill  up  that  which 
is  lacking  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ  in  my  flesh  for 
His  body's  sake,  which  is  the  Church."  It  is  varied 
in  Heb.  xiii.  13,  where  the  sacred  writer  exhorts  us 
to  go  out  to  Jesus,  without  the  camp,  bearing  Ht's 
reproach.     It  is  anticipated  and  justified  by  the  words  J 

'  The  same  view  is  strongly  held  by  Schmiedel.  He  infers  from 
chap,  vi,  9  that  Paul's  sufferings  had  been  interpreted  at  Corinth  as 
a  divine  chastisement ;  in  opposition  to  this  the  Apostle  shows  that 
they  are  divinely  intended  to  profit  the  Corinthians.  Hence  the 
opening  of  the  letter  is  not  a  simple  outpouring  of  his  heart,  but  is 
delicately  calculated  to  set  aside  a  reproach  without  naming  it.  The 
same  purpose  rules  in  the  assumption  that  the  Corinthians  will 
intercede  and  give  thanks  on  his  behalf;  it  takes  for  granted  their 
reconciliation  to  him. 


14      THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

'  of  the  Lord  Himself:  '*  Ye  shall  indeed  drink  of  My 
cup ;  and  with  the  baptism  with  which  I  am  baptised 
\  shall  ye  be  baptised  withal."  One  lot,  and  that  a 
cross,  awaits  all  the  children  of  God  in  this  world,  from 
the  Only-begotten  who  came  from  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  to  the  latest-born  among  His  brethren.  But 
let  us  beware  of  the  hasty  assertion  that,  because  the 
Christian's  sufferings  can  thus  be  described  as  of  a 
piece  with  Christ's,  the  key  to  the  mystery  of  Geth- 
semane  and  Calvary  is  to  be  found  in  the  self-con- 
sciousness of  martyrs  and  confessors.  The  very  man 
who  speaks  of  filling  up  that  which  is  lacking  of  the 
afflictions  of  Christ  for  the  Church's  sake,  and  who 
says  that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  came  on  him  in  their 
fulness,  would  have  been  the  first  to  protest  against 
,  such  an  idea.  *^  Was  Paul  crucified  for  you  ?  "  Christ 
I  suffered  alone ;  there  is,  in  spite  of  our  fellowship  with 
i  His  sufferings,  a  solitary,  incommunicable  greatness  in 
{  His  Cross,  which  the  Apostle  will  expound  in  another 
place  (chap.  v.).  Even  when  Christ's  sufferings  come 
upon  us  there  is  a  difference.  At  the  very  lowest,  as 
Vinet  has  it,  we  do  from  gratitude  what  He  did  from 
pure  love.  We  suffer  in  His  company,  sustained  by 
His  comfort ;  He  suffered  uncomforted  and  unsustained. 
We  are  afQicted,  when  it  so  happens,  "  under  the 
auspices  of  the  divine  mercy  "  ;  He  was  afQicted  that 
there  might  be  mercy  for  us. 

Few  parts  of  Bible  teaching  are  more  recklessly 
applied  than  those  about  suffering  and  consolation.  If 
all  that  men  endured  was  of  the  character  here 
described,  if  all  their  sufferings  were  sufferings  of 
Christ,  which  came  on  them  because  they  were  walking 
in  His  steps  and  assailed  by  the  forces  which  buffeted 
Him,  consolation  would  be  an  easy  task.     The  presence 


1.  1-7.]  SUFFERING  AND   CONSOLATION  15 

of  God  with  the  soul  would  make  it  almost  unnecessary. 
The  answer  of  a  good  conscience  would  take  all  the 
bitterness  out  of  pain  ;  and  then,  however  it  tortured,  it 
could  not  poison  the  soul.  The  mere  sense  that  our:' 
sufferings  are  the  sufferings  of  Christ — that  we  are 
drinking  of  His  cup — is  itself  a  comfort  and  an  inspira- 
tion beyond  words.  But  much  of  our  suffering,  we 
know  very  well,  is  of  a  different  character.  It  does  not , 
come  on  us  because  we  are  united  to  Christ,  but  because 
we  are  estranged  from  Him ;  it  is  the  proof  and  the 
fruit,  not  of  our  righteousness,  but  of  our  guilt.  It  is 
our  sin  finding  us  out,  and  avenging  itself  upon  us,  and 
in  no  sense  the  suffering  of  Christ.  Such  suffering, 
no  doubt,  has  its  use  and  its  purpose.  It  is  meant  to  \ 
drive  the  soul  in  upon  itself,  to  compel  it  to  reflection, 
to  give  it  no  rest  till  it  awakes  to  penitence,  to  urge  it 
through  despair  to  God.  Those  who  suffer  thus  will 
have  cause  to  thank  God  afterwards  if  His  discipline 
leads  to  their  amendment,  but  they  have  no  title  to  take 
to  themselves  the  consolation  prepared  for  those  who 
are  partners  in  the  sufferings  of  Christ.  Nor  is  the 
minister  of  Christ  at  liberty  to  apply  a  passage  like  this 
to  any  case  of  affliction  which  he  encounters  in  his 
work.  There  are  sufferings  and  sufferings;  there  is 
a  divine  intention  in  them  all,  if  we  could  only  discover 
it ;  but  the  divine  intention  and  the  divinely  wrought 
result  are  only  explained  here  for  one  particular  kind — 
those  sufferings,  namely,  which  come  upon  men  in 
virtue  of  their  following  Jesus  Christ.  What,  then 
does  the  Apostle's  experience  enable  him  to  say  on  this 
hard  question  ? 

(i)  His  sufferings  have  brought  him  a  new  revelation 
of  God,  which  is  expressed  in  the  new  name,  "The 
Father  of  mercies  and  God  of  all  comfort.''     The  name 


1 6     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

is  wonderful  in  its  tenderness ;  we  feel  as  we  pronounce 
it  that  a  new  conception  of  what  love  can  be  has  been 
imparted  to  the  Apostle's  soul.  It  is  in  the  sufferings 
and  sorrows  of  life  that  we  discover  what  we  possess 
in  our  human  friends.  Perhaps  one  abandons  us  in  our 
extremity,  and  another  betrays  us ;  but  most  of  us  find 
ourselves  unexpectedly  and  astonishingly  rich.  People 
of  whom  we  have  hardly  ever  had  a  kind  thought  show 
us  kindness;  the  unsuspected,  unmerited  goodness  which 
comes  to  our  relief  makes  us  ashamed.  This  is  the  rule 
which  is  illustrated  here  by  the  example  of  God  Himself. 
It  is  as  if  the  Apostle  said  :  ''  I  never  knew,  till  the  suf- 
ferings of  Christ  abounded  in  me,  how  near  God  could 
come  to  man ;  I  never  knew  how  rich  His  mercies  could 
be,  how  intimate  His  sympathy,  how  inspiriting  His 
comfort."  This  is  an  utterance  well  worth  considering. 
The  sufferings  of  men,  and  especially  the  sufferings 
of  the  innocent  and  the  good,  are  often  made  the 
ground  of  hasty  charges  against  God ;  nay,  they  are 
often  turned  into  arguments  for  Atheism.  But  who 
are  they  who  make  such  charges  ?  Not  the  righteous 
sufferers,  at  least  in  New  Testament  times.  The  Apostle 
here  is  their  representative  and  spokesman,  and  he 
assures  us  that  God  never  was  so  much  to  him  as  when 
he  was  in  the  sorest  straits.  The  divine  love  was 
so  far  from  being  doubtful  to  him  that  it  shone  out 
then  in  unanticipated  brightness ;  the  very  heart  of  the 
Father  was  revealed — all  mercy,  all  encouragement  and 
comfort.  If  the  martyrs  have  no  doubts  of  their  own, 
is  it  not  very  gratuitous  for  the  spectators  to  become 
sceptics  on  their  account  ?  ''  The  sufferings  of  Christ  " 
in  His  people  may  be  an  insoluble  problem  to  the 
disinterested  onlooker,  but  they  are  no  problem  to 
the  sufferers.     What  is  a  mystery,  when  viewed  from 


1.1-7]  SUFFERING  AND  CONSOLATION  17 

without;  a  mystery  in  which  God  seems  to  be  con- 
spicuous by  His  absence,  is,  when  viewed  from  within, 
a  new  and  priceless  revelation  of  God  Himself.  "  The 
Father  of  mercies  and  God  of  all  comfort "  is  making 
Himself  known  now  as  for  want  of  opportunity  He 
could  not  be  known  before. 

Notice  especially  that  the  consolation  is  said  to 
abound  ''tjirqugh  Christ."  He  is  the  mediator  through 
whom  it  comes.  To  partake  in  His  sufferings  is  to  be 
united  to  Him ;  and  to  be  united  to  Him  is  to  partake 
in  His  life.  The  Apostle  anticipates  here  a  thought 
on  which  he  enlarges  in  the  fourth  chapter :  "  Always 
bearing  about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  Jesus,  that  the 
life  also  of  Jesus  may  be  manifested  in  our  body." 
In  our  eagerness  to  emphasise  the  nearness  and  the 
sympathy  of  Jesus,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  we  do  less 
than  justice  to  the  New  Testament  revelation  of  His 
glory.  He  does  not  suffer  now.  He  is  enthroned  on 
high,  far  above  all  principality  and  power  and  might 
and  dominion.  The  Spirit  which  brings  His  presence 
to  our  hearts  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Prince  of  Life;  its 
function  is  not  to  be  weak  with  our  weakness,  but  to 
help  our  infirmity,  and  to  strengthen  us  with  all  might 
in  the  inner  man.  The  Christ  who  dwells  in  us  through 
His  Spirit  is  not  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  wearing  the  crown 
of  thorns ;  it  is  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords, 
making  us  partakers  of  His  triumph.  There  is  a  weak 
tone  in  much  of  the  religious  literature  which  deals 
with  suffering,  utterly  unlike  that  of  the  New  Testament. 
It  is  a  degradation  of  Christ  to  our  level  which  it 
teaches,  instead  of  an  exaltation  of  man  toward  Christ's. 
But  the  last  is  the  apostolic  ideal :  *'  More  than  con- 
querors through  Him  that  loved  us."  The  comfort  of 
which  St.  Paul  makes  so  much  here  is  not  necessarily 

2 


i8     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

deliverance  from  suffering  for  Christ's  sake,  still  less 
exemption  from  it ;  it  is  the  strength  and  courage  and 
immortal    hope    which    rise   up,  even   in  the  midst  of 
suffering,  in  the  heart  in  which  the  Lord  of  glory  dwells. 
Through   Him  such  comfort  abounds;  it  wells  up  to 
match  and  more  than  match  the  rising  tide  of  suffering. 
(2)  But  Paul's  sufferings  have  done  more  than  give 
him  a  new  knowledge  of  God ;  they  have  given  him  at 
the  same  time  a  new  power  to  comfort  others.     He  is 
bold  enough  to  make  this  ministry  of  consolation  the 
key  to  his  recent  experiences.      "  He  comforteth  us  in 
all  our  afQiction,  that  we  may  be  able  to  comfort  them 
that  are  in  any  afQiction,  through  the  comfort  where- 
with we  ourselves  are  comforted  of  God."    His  sufferings 
and  his  consolation  together  had  a  purpose  that  went 
beyond    himself     How    significant    that    is    for    some 
perplexing  aspects  of  man's  life  !     We  are  selfish,  and 
instinctively   regard    ourselves    as    the    centre    of    all 
providences;  we  naturally  seek  to  explain  everything 
by  its  bearing  on  ourselves  alone.     But  God  has  not 
made    us    for    selfishness    and    isolation,    and    some 
mysteries  would  be  cleared  up  if  we  had  love  enough 
to  see  the  ties  by  which  our  life  is  indissolubly  linked 
to   others.     This,    however,   is    less   definite  than    the 
Apostle's  thought ;    what  he  tells    us    is   that  he  has 
gained  a  new  power  at  a  great  price.     It  is  a  power 
which  almost  every  Christian  man  will  covet ;  but  how 
many  are  w^illing  to  pass   through  the  fire  to  obtain 
it  ?     We  must  ourselves  have  needed  and  have  found 
comfort,  before  we  know  what  it  is  ;  we  must  ourselves 
have    learned  the    art   of  consoling   in  the    school   of 
suffering,  before  we  can  practise  it  for  the  benefit  of 
others.     The  most  painfully  tried,  the  most  proved  in 
suffering,  the  souls  that  are  best  acquainted  with  grief. 


i.  1-7.]  SUFFERING  AND  CONSOLATION  ig 

provided  their  consolation  has  abounded  through  Christ, 
are  specially  called  to  this  ministry.  Their  experience 
is  their  preparation  for  it.  Nature  is  something,  and 
age  is  something ;  but  far  more  than  nature  and  age  is 
that  discipline  of  God  to  which  they  have  been  sub- 
mitted, that  initiation  into  the  sufferings  of  Christ  which 
has  made  them  acquainted  with  His  consolations  also, 
and  has  taught  them  to  know  the  Father  of  mercies  and 
the  God  of  all  comfort.  Are  they  not  among  His  best 
gifts  to  the  Church,  those  whom  He  has  quahfied  to 
console,  by  consoling  them  in  the  fire  ? 

In  the  sixth  verse  the  Apostle  dwells  on  the  interest 
of  the  Corinthians  in  his  sufferings  and  his  consolation. 
It  is  a  practical  illustration  of  the  communion  of  the 
saints  in  Christ.  "All  that  befalls  m^,"  says  St.  Paul, 
"has  your  interest  in  view.  If  I  am  afflicted,  it  is  in 
the  interest  of  your  comfort :  when  you  look  at  me,  and 
see  how  I  bear  myself  in  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  you 
will  be  encouraged  to  become  imitators  of  me,  even  as 
I  am  of  Him.  If,  again,  I  am  comforted,  this  also  is  in 
the  interest  of  your  comfort ;  God  enables  me  to  impart 
to  you  what  He  has  imparted  to  me ;  and  the  comfort 
in  question  is  no  impotent  thing ;  it  proves  its  power 
in  this — that  when  you  have  received  it,  you  endure  with 
brave  patience  the  same  sufferings  which  we  also  suffer." 
This  last  is  a  favourite  thought  with  the  Apostle,  and 
connects  itself  readily  with  the  idea,  which  may  or  may 
not  have  a  right  to  be  expressed  in  the  text,  that  all  this 
is  in  furtherance  of  the  salvation  of  the  Corinthians.^ 


'  The  text  is  incurably  perplexed.  The  variations  can  be  seen  in 
any  critical  edition.  The  MS.  authority  does  not  justify  any  con- 
fident decision,  and  the  happiest  suggestion  yet  made  seems  to  be 
that  of  Professor  Warfield,   who  would  omit  altogether  the  words 


20     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

For  if  there  is  one  note  of  the  saved  more  certain  than 
another,  it  is  the  brave  patience  with  which  they  take 
upon  them  the  sufferings  of  Christ.  6  he  v7ro/jL€iva<;  et? 
Te\o9,  ovTo<;  (Kodrjaerai,  (Matt.  x.  22).  All  that  helps 
men  to  endure  to  the  end,  helps  them  to  salvation. 
All  that  tends  to  break  the  spirit  and  to  sink  men 
in  despondency,  or  hurry  them  into  impatience  or  fear, 
leads  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  great  service  that 
a  true  comforter  does  is  to  put  the  strength  and  courage 
into  us  which  enable  us  to  take  up  our  cross,  however 
sharp  and  heavy,  and  to  bear  it  to  the  last  step  and  the 
last  breath.  No  comfort  is  worth  the  name — none  is 
taught  of  God — which  has  another  efficacy  than  this. 
The  saved  are  those  whose  souls  rise  to  this  description, 
and  who  recognise  their  spiritual  kindred  in  such  brave 
and  patient  sufferers  as  Paul. 

The  thanksgiving  ends  appropriately  with  a  cheerful 
word  about  the  Corinthians.  "  Our  hope  for  you  is 
stedfast ;  knowing  that,  as  ye  are  partakers  of  the 
sufferings,  so  are  ye  also  of  the  comfort."  These  two 
things  go  together ;  it  is  the  appointed  lot  of  the 
children  of  God  to  become  acquainted  with  both.  If 
the  sufferings  could  come  alone,  if  they  could  be 
assigned  as  the  portion  of  the  Church  apart  from  the 
consolation,  Paul  could  have  no  hope  that  the  Cor- 
inthians would  endure  to  the  end  ;  but  as  it  is,  he  is 
not  afraid.  The  force  of  his  words  is  perhaps  best 
felt  by  us,  if  instead  of  saying  that  the  sufferings 
and  the  consolation   are  inseparable,  we  say  that  the 


Kal  auTTjpias  {and  sa/vaiion).  The  MSS.  vary  most  in  regard  to  these 
words,  inserting,  omitting,  and  transposing  them.  Hence  they  are 
very  probably  an  old  gloss,  and  their  omission  simplifies  both  the 
grammar  and  the  sense. 


i.  1-7.]  SUFFERING  AND   CONSOLATION  21 

consolation  depends  upon  the  sufferings.  And  what 
is  the  consolation  ?  It  is  the  presence  of  the  exalted 
Saviour  in  the  heart  through  His  Spirit.  It  is  a  clear 
perception,  and  a  firm  hold,  of  the  things  which  are 
unseen  and  eternal.  It  is  a  conviction  of  the  divine 
love  which  cannot  be  shaken,  and  of  its  sovereignty  and 
omnipotence  in  the  Risen  Christ.  This  infinite  comfort 
is  contingent  upon  our  partaking  of  the  sufferings  of 
Christ.  There  is  a  point,  the  Apostle  seems  to  say, 
at  which  the  invisible  world  and  its  glories  intersect 
this  world  in  which  we  live,  and  become  visible,  real, 
and  inspiring  to  men.  It  is  the  point  at  which  we  suffer 
with  Christ's  sufferings.  At  any  other  point  the  vision 
of  this  glory  is  unneeded,  and  therefore  withheld.  The 
worldly,  the  selfish,  the  cowardly ;  those  who  shrink 
from  self-denial ;  those  who  evade  pain ;  those  who 
root  themselves  in  the  world  that  lies  around  us,  and 
when  they  move  at  all  move  in  the  line  of  least  resist- 
ance ;  those  who  have  never  carried  Christ's  Cross, — 
none  of  these  can  ever  have  the  triumphant  conviction 
of  things  unseen  and  eternal  which  throbs  in  every 
page  of  the  New  Testament.  None  of  these  can  have 
what  the  Apostle  elsewhere  calls  *'  eternal  consolation." 
It  is  easy  for  unbehevers,  and  for  Christians  lapsing 
into  unbelief,  to  mock  this  faith  as  faith  in  ''  the  trans- 
cendent ";  but  would  a  single  line  of  the  New  Testament 
have  been  written  without  it  ?  When  we  weigh  what 
is  here  asserted  about  its  connexion  with  the  sufferings 
of  Christ,  could  a  graver  charge  be  brought  against 
any  Church  than  that  its  faith  in  this  "  transcendent  " 
languished  or  was  extinct?  Do  not  let  us  hearken 
to  the  sceptical  insinuations  which  would  rob  us  of  all 
that  has  been  revealed  in  Christ's  resurrection ;  and  do 
not  let   us  imagine,  on   the  other  hand,   that  we  can 


22     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

retain  a  living  faith  in  this  revelation  if  we  decHne  to 
take  up  our  cross.  It  was  only  when  the  sufferings 
of  Christ  abounded  in  him  that  Paul's  consolation  was 
abundant  through  Christ ;  it  was  only  when  he  laid 
down  his  Hfe  for  His  sake  that  Stephen  saw  the 
heavens  opened  and  the  Son  of  Man  standing  at  the 
right  hand  of  God. 


II 

FAITH  BORN  OF  DESPAIR 

"  For  we  would  not  have  you  ignorant,  brethren,  concerning  our 
affliction  which  befell  its  in  Asia,  that  we  were  weighed  down  exceed- 
ingly, beyond  our  power,  insomuch  that  we  despaired  even  of  life  : 
yea,  we  ourselves  have  had  the  answer  of  death  within  ourselves, 
that  we  should  not  trust  in  ourselves,  but  in  God  which  raiseth  the 
dead  :  who  delivered  us  out  of  so  great  a  death,  and  will  deliver :  on 
whom  we  have  set  our  hope  that  He  will  also  still  deliver  us ;  ye 
also  helping  together  on  our  behalf  by  your  supplication ;  that,  for 
the  gift  bestowed  upon  us  by  means  of  many,  thanks  may  be  given 
by  many  persons  on  our  behalf. 

"For  our  glorying  is  this,  the  testimony  of  our  conscience,  that  in 
holiness  and  sincerity  of  God,  not  in  fleshly  wisdom  but  in  the  grace 
of  God,  we  behaved  ourselves  in  the  world,  and  more  abundantly  to 
you-ward.  For  we  write  none  other  things  unto  you,  than  what  yc 
read  or  even  acknowledge,  and  I  hope  ye  will  acknowledge  unto  the 
end  :  as  also  ye  did  acknowledge  us  in  part,  that  we  are  your  glory- 
ing, even  as  ye  also  are  ours,  in  the  day  of  our  Lord  Jesus." — 2  Cor. 
i.  8-14  (R.V.). 

PAUL  seems  to  have  felt  that  the  thanksgiving  with 
which  lie  opens  this  letter  to  the  Corinthians  was 
so  peculiar  as  to  require  explanation.  It  was  not  his 
way  to  burst  upon  his  readers  thus  with  his  private 
experiences  either  of  joy  or  sorrow  ;  and  though  he 
had  good  reason  for  what  he  did — in  that  abundance 
of  the  heart  out  of  which  the  mouth  speaks,  in  his 
desire  to  conciliate  the  good-will  of  the  Corinthians  for 
a  much-tried  man,  and  in  his  faith  in  the  real  com- 
munion   of  the   saints — he    instinctively   stops  here  a 

23 


24     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 


moment  to  vindicate  what  he  has  done.  He  does  not 
wish  them  to  be  ignorant  of  an  experience  which  has 
been  so  much  to  him,  and  ought  to  have  the  Hveliest 
interest  for  them. 

Evidently  they  knew  that  he  had  been  in  trouble, 
but  they  had  no  sufficient  idea  of  the  extremity  to 
which  he  had  been  reduced.  We  were  weighed  down, 
he  writes,  in  excess,  beyond  our  power ;  the  trial  that 
came  upon  us  was  one  not  measured  to  man's  strength. 
We  despaired  even  of  life.  Nay,  we  have  had^  the 
answer  of  death  in  ourselves.  When  we  looked  about 
us,  when  we  faced  our  circumstances,  and  asked  our- 
selves whether  death  or  life  was  to  be  the  end  of  this, 
we  could  only  answer,  Death.  We  were  like  men 
under  sentence  ;  it  was  only  a  question  of  a  little 
sooner  or  a  little  later,  when  the  fatal  stroke  should 
fall. 

The  Apostle,  who  has  a  divine  gift  for  interpreting 
experience  and  reading  its  lessons,  tells  us  w^hy  he  and 
his  friends  had  to  pass  such  a  terrible  time.  It  was 
that  they  might  trust,  not  in  themselves,  but  in  God 
who  raises  the  dead.  It  is  natural,  he  implies,  for  us  to 
trust  in  ourselves.  It  is  so  natural,  and  so  confirmed 
by  the  habits  of  a  lifetime,  that  no  ordinary  difficulties 
or  perplexities  avail  to  break  us  of  it.  It  takes  all  God 
can  do  to  root  up  our  self-confidence.  He  must  reduce 
us  to  despair ;  He  must  bring  us  to  such  an  extremity 
that  the  one  voice  we  have  in  our  hearts,  the  one  voice 
that  cries  to  us  wherever  w^e  look  round  for  help,  is 
Death,  death,  death.     It  is  out  of  this  despair  that  the 

'  Notice  the  perfect  ecrx'^'fctAiej/.  We  had  this  experience,  and  in 
its  fruit — a  newer  and  deeper  faith  in  God — we  have  it  still.  It  is 
a  permanent  possession  in  this  happy  form.  The  same  idea  is 
expressed  in  the  pft.  rfKirlKaixev,  ver.  lO 


i.8-i4.]  FAITH  BORN  OF  DESPAIR  25 

superhuman  hope  is  born.  It  is  out  of  this  abject 
helplessness  that  the  soul  learns  to  look  up  with  new 
trust  to  God. 

It  is  a  melancholy  reflection  upon  human  nature  that 
we  have,  as  the  Apostle  expresses  it  elsewhere,  to  be 
"  shut  up  "  to  all  the  mercies  of  God.  If  we  could 
evade  them,  notwithstanding  their  freeness  and  their 
worth,  we  would.  How  do  most  of  us  attain  to  any 
faith  in  Providence  ?  Is  it  not  by  proving,  through 
numberless  experiments,  that  it  is  not  in  man  that 
walketh  to  direct  his  steps  ?  Is  it  not  by  coming,  again 
and  again,  to  the  limit  of  our  resources,  and  being 
compelled  to  feel  that  unless  there  is  a  wisdom  and  a 
love  at  work  on  our  behalf,  immeasurably  wiser  and 
more  benignant  than  our  own,  life  is  a  moral  chaos  ? 
How,  above  all,  do  we  come  to  any  faith  in  redemp- 
tion ?  to  any  abiding  trust  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
Saviour  of  our  souls  ?  Is  it  not  by  this  same  way  of 
despair  ?  Is  it  not  by  the  profound  consciousness  that 
in  ourselves  there  is  no  answer  to  the  question,  How 
shall  man  be  just  with  God  ?  and  that  the  answer  must 
be  sought  in  Him  ?  Is  it  not  by  failure,  by  defeat,  by 
deep  disappointments,  by  ominous  forebodings  harden- 
ing into  the  awful  certainty  that  we  cannot  with  our 
own  resources  make  ourselves  good  men — is  it  not  by 
experiences  like  these  that  we  are  led  to  the  Cross  ? 
This  principle  has  many  other  illustrations  in  human 
life,  and  every  one  of  them  is  something  to  our  dis- 
credit. They  all  mean  that  only  desperation  opens  our 
eyes  to  God's  love.  We  do  not  heartily  own  Him  as 
the  author  of  life  and  health,  unless  He  has  raised  us 
from  sickness  after  the  doctor  had  given  us  up.  We 
do  not  acknowledge  His  paternal  guidance  of  our  life, 
unless    in    some    sudden    peril,    or    some   impending 


26     THE  SFCOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

disaster,  He  provides  an  unexpected  deliverance.  We 
do  not  confess  that  salvation  is  of  the  Lord,  till  our 
very  soul  has  been  convinced  that  in  it  there  dwells  no 
good  thing.  Happy  are  those  who  are  taught,  even  by 
despair,  to  set  their  hope  in  God ;  and  who,  when  they 
learn  this  lesson  once,  learn  it,  like  St.  Paul,  once  for 
all  (see  note  on  iaxw^/^^^  above).  Faith  and  hope 
like  those  which  burn  through  this  Epistle  were  well 
worth  purchasing,  even  at  such  a  price  ;  they  were 
blessings  so  valuable  that  the  love  of  God  did  not 
shrink  from  reducing  Paul  to  despair  that  he  might  be 
compelled  to  grasp  them.  Let  us  believe  when  such 
trials  come  into  our  lives — when  we  are  weighed  down 
exceedingly,  beyond  our  strength,  and  are  in  darkness 
without  light,  in  a  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  with 
no  outlet — that  God  is  not  dealing  with  us  cruelly  or 
at  random,  but  shutting  us  up  to  an  experience  of  His 
love  which  we  have  hitherto  declined.  ''After  two 
days  will  He  revive  us ;  on  the  third  day  He  will  raise 
us  up,  and  we  shall  live  before  Him." 

The  Apostle  describes  the  God  on  whom  he  learned 
to  hope  as  '*  God  who  raises  the  dead."  He  himself 
had  been  as  good  as  dead,  and  his  deliverance  was  as 
good  as  a  resurrection.  The  phrase,  however,  seems 
to  be  the  Apostle's  equivalent  for  omnipotence  :  when 
he  thinks  of  the  utmost  that  God  can  do,  he  expresses 
it  thus.  Sometimes  the  application  of  it  is  merely 
physical  (e.g.,  Rom.  iv.  17);  sometimes  it  is  spiritual 
as  well.  Thus  in  Eph.  i.  ipfif.  the  possibihties  of  the 
Christian  life  are  measured  by  this — that  that  power  is 
at  work  in  believers  with  which  God  wrought  in  Christ 
when  He  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  and  set  Him  at 
His  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly  places.  Is  not 
that  power  sufficient  to  do  for  the  weakest  and  most 


i.8-i4.]  FAITH  BORN  OF  DESPAIR  27 

desperate  of  men  far  more  than  all  he  needs  ?  Yet  it 
is  his  need,  somehow,  when  brought  home  to  him  in 
despair,  that  opens  his  eyes  to  this  omnipotent  saving 
power. 

The  text  of  the  words  in  which  Paul  tells  of  his 
deliverance  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  quite  certain,  but 
the  general  meaning  is  plain.  God  delivered  him  from 
the  awful  death  which  was  impending  over  him  ;  he 
had  his  hope  now  firmly  set  on  Him  ;  he  was  sure  that 
He  would  deliver  him  in  the  future  also.^  What  the 
danger  had  been,  w^hich  had  made  so  powerful  an 
impression  on  this  hardy  soul,  we  cannot  now  tell.  It 
must  have  been  something  which  happened  after  the 
First  Epistle  was  written,  and  therefore  was  not  the 
fighting  with  wild  beasts  at  Ephesus,  whatever  that  may 
have  been  (i  Cor.  xv.  32).  It  may  have  been  a  serious 
bodily  illness,  which  had  brought  him  to  death's  door, 
and  left  him  so  weak,  that  still,  at  every  step,  he  felt  it 
was  God's  mercy  that  was  holding  him  up.  It  may 
have  been  a  plot  to  make  away  with  him  on  the  part 
of  the  many  adversaries  mentioned  in  the  First  Epistle 
(xvi.  9) — a  plot  which  had  failed,  as  it  were,  by  a 
miracle,  but  the  malignity  of  which  still  dogged  his  steps, 


*  The  doubtful  words  here  are  /cat  pverai  in  ver.  lO  of  the  Received 
Text,  from  D'",  E,  F,  G,  K,  etc.  ("  and  doth  deliver"  in  the  Authorised 
Version).  They  are  not  found  in  A,  D,  Syr.,  Chrys.,  while  the  most 
authoritative  MSS.,  t{,  B,  C,  P,  have  Kal  pvaerai  ("  and  will  deliver," 
of  the  Revised  Version).  Most  editors  take  the  last  reading,  as  best 
attested ;  but  on  internal  grounds  two  of  the  most  recent  and  acute  inter- 
preters, Schmiedel  and  Heinrici,  prefer  the  Received  Text.  The  present 
tense  {^^  doth  deliver")  presupposes  that  the  danger  to  which  Paul  had 
been  exposed  in  some  form  or  in  some  sense  continued.  If  this  were 
the  case,  of  course  it  could  not  have  been,  as  Hofmann  supposes,  the 
shipwreck  in  which  the  Apostle  spent  a  night  and  a  day  in  the  deep. 
Otherwise  this  would  be  a  plausible  and  tempting  supposition. 


28      THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

and  was  only  warded  off  by  the  constant  presence  of 
God.  Both  these  suggestions  require,  and  would  satisfy, 
the  reading,  "who  delivered  us  from  so  great  a  death, 
and  doth  deliver."  If,  however,  we  take  the  reading  of 
the  R.V. — "  who  delivered  us  from  so  great  a  death,  and 
will  deliver ;  on  whom  we  have  set  our  hope  that  He 
will  also  still  deliver  us  " — the  existence  of  the  danger, 
at  the  moment  at  which  Paul  writes,  is  not  necessarily 
involved ;  and  the  danger  itself  may  have  been  more 
of  what  we  might  call  an  accidental  character.  The 
imminent  peril  of  drowning  referred  to  in  chap.  xi.  25 
would  meet  the  case  ;  and  the  confidence  expressed  by 
Paul  with  such  emphatic  reference  to  the  future  will  not 
seem  without  motive  when  we  consider  that  he  had 
several  sea  voyages  in  prospect — as  those  from  Corinth 
to  Syria,  from  Syria  to  Rome,  and  probably  from 
Rome  to  Spain.  So  Hofmann  interprets  the  whole 
passage :  but  whether  the  interpretation  be  good  or 
bad,  it  is  elsewhere  than  in  its  accidental  circumstances 
that  the  interest  of  the  transaction  lies  for  the  writer 
and  for  us.  To  Paul  it  was  not  merely  a  historical 
but  a  spiritual  experience ;  not  an  incident  without 
meaning,  but  a  divinely  ordered  discipline  ;  and  it  is 
thus  that  we  must  learn  to  read  our  own  lives  if  the 
purpose  of  God  is  to  be  wrought  out  in  them. 

Notice  in  this  connexion,  in  the  eleventh  verse,  how 
simply  Paul  assumes  the  spiritual  participation  of  the 
Corinthians  in  his  fortunes.  It  is  God  indeed  who 
delivers  him,  but  the  deliverance  is  wrought  while 
they,  as  well  as  other  Churches,  co-operate  in  supplica- 
tion on  his  behalf  In  the  strained  relations  existing 
between  himself  and  the  Corinthians,  the  assumption 
here  made  so  graciously  probably  did  them  more  than 
justice;  if  there  w^ere  unsympathetic  souls  among  them, 


i.  8-14.]  FAITH  BORN  OF  DESPAIR  29 

they  must  have  felt  in  it  a  delicate  rebuke.  What 
follows — ''  that,  for  the  gift  bestowed  upon  us  by  the 
means  of  many,  thanks  may  be  given  by  many  persons 
on  our  behalf"  (R.V.) — simple  and  intelligible  as  it 
looks  in  English,  is  one  of  the  passages  which  justify 
M.  Sabatier's  remark  that  Paul  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand and  impossible  to  translate.  The  Revisers  seem 
to  have  construed  to  et?  /;/Ltav  'xaptcrixa  Sia  iroWcov 
together,  as  if  it  had  been  to  Sta  it.  e.  rj.  ')(apLcr^a,  the 
meaning  being  that  the  favour  bestowed  on  Paul  in  his 
deliverance  from  this  peril  had  been  bestowed  at  the 
intercession  of  man3^  Others  get  virtually  the  same 
meaning  b}'  construing  to  et?  ?5/Aa9  x^pca/jba  with  e/c 
TToWcjv  TTpoacoTTcov  I  thc  inversion  is  supposed  to  em- 
phasise these  last  words ;  and  as  it  was,  on  this  view, 
prayer  on  the  part  of  many  persons  that  procured  his 
deliverance,  Paul  is  anxious  that  the  deliverance  itself 
should  be  acknowledged  by  the  thanksgiving  of  many. 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  both  these  renderings  are 
grammatically  violent,  and  it  seems  to  me  preferable 
to  keep  TO  et?  ///xa?  ')(upt(7/ia  by  itself,  even  though 
eK  TToWwv  TrpocrcoTTCDV  and  Blcl  iroXkwv  should  then 
reduplicate  the  same  idea  with  only  a  slight  variation. 
We  should  then  render  :  ''  in  order  that,  on  the  part  of 
many  persons,  the  favour  shown  to  us  may  be  grate- 
fully acknowledged  by  many  on  our  behalf."  The 
pleonasm  thus  resulting  strikes  one  rather  as  charac- 
teristic of  St.  Paul's  mood  in  such  passages,  than  as 
a  thing  open  to  objection.^  But  grammar  apart,  what 
really  has  to  be  emphasised  here  is  again  the  com- 


'  To  render  dia  iroWCiv  prolixe,  copiously,  is  at  least  precarious; 
and  to  take  irpoawira  as  "  faces  "  ("  that  from  many  faces  upturned 
in  prayer  to  God  "),  though  lexically  admissible,  seems  on  all  other 
grounds  out  of  place. 


30     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

munion  of  the  saints.  All  the  Churches  pray  for  St. 
Paul — at  least  he  takes  it  for  granted  that  they  do  ;  and 
when  he  is  rescued  from  danger,  his  own  thanksgiving 
is  multiplied  a  thousandfold  by  the  thanksgivings  of 
others  on  his  behalf.  This  is  the  ideal  of  an  evan- 
gelist's life ;  in  all  its  incidents  and  emergencies,  in  all 
its  perils  and  salvations,  it  ought  to  float  in  an  atmo- 
sphere of  prayer.  Every  interposition  of  God  on  the 
missionary's  behalf  is  then  recognised  by  him  as  a  gift 
of  grace  (xapLo-fjua) — not,  be  it  understood,  a  private 
favour,  but  a  blessing  and  a  power  capacitating  him 
for  further  service  to  the  Church.  Those  who  have 
lived  through  his  straits  and  his  triumphs  with  him  in 
their  prayers  know  how  true  that  is. 

At  this  point  (ver.  12)  the  key  in  which  Paul  writes 
begins  to  change.  We  are  conscious  of  a  slight  dis- 
cord the  instant  he  speaks  about  the  testimony  of  his 
conscience.  Yet  the  transition  is  as  unforced  as  any 
such  transition  can  be.  I  may  well  take  for  granted, 
seems  to  be  the  thought  in  his  mind,  that  you  pray  for 
me;  I  may  well  ask  you  to  unite  with  me  in  thanks 
to  God  for  my  deliverance ;  for  if  there  is  one  thing 
I  am  sure  of,  and  proud  of,  it  is  that  I  have  been  a 
loyal  minister  of  God  in  the  world,  and  especially  to 
you.  Fleshly  wisdom  has  not  been  my  guide.  I  have 
used  no  worldly  policy  ;  I  have  sought  no  selfish  ends. 
In  a  holiness  and  sincerity  which  God  bestows,  in  an 
element  of  crystal  transparency,  I  have  led  my  apostolic 
life.  The  world  has  never  convicted  me  of  anything 
dark  or  underhand ;  and  in  all  the  world  none  know 
better  than  you,  among  whom  I  lived  longer  than 
elsewhere,  working  with  my  hands,  and  preaching  the 
Gospel  as  freely  as  God  offers  it,  that  I  have  walked 
in  the  light  as  He  is  in  the  light. 


8-14.]  FAITH  BORN  OF  DESPAIR  31 

This  general  defence,  which  is  not  without  its  note 
of  defiance,  becomes  defined  in  ver.  13.  Plainly  charges 
of  insincerity  had  been  made  against  Paul,  particularly 
affecting  his  correspondence,  and  it  is  to  these  he 
addresses  himself.  It  is  not  easy  to  be  outspoken  and 
conciliatory  in  the  same  sentence,  to  show  your  in- 
dignation to  the  man  who  charges  you  with  double- 
dealing,  and  at  the  same  time  take  him  to  your  heart ; 
and  the  Apostle's  effort  to  do  all  these  things  at  once 
has  proved  embarrassing  to  himself,  and  more  than 
embarrassing  to  his  interpreters.  He  begins,  indeed, 
lucidly  enough.  *'  We  write  nothing  else  to  you  than 
what  you  read."  He  does  not  mean  that  he  had  no 
correspondence  with  members  of  the  Church  except  in 
his  public  epistles  ;  but  that  in  these  public  epistles 
his  meaning  was  obvious  and  on  the  surface.  His 
style  was  not,  as  some  had  hinted,  obscure,  tortuous, 
elaborately  ambiguous,  full  of  loop-holes ;  he  wrote 
like  a  plain  man  to  plain  men ;  he  said  what  he  meant, 
and  meant  what  he  said.  Then  he  qualifies  this 
slightly.  ^'  We  write  nothing  to  you  but  what  you 
read — or  in  point  of  fact  acknowledge,"  even  apart  from 
our  writing.  This  seems  to  me  the  simplest  interpreta- 
tion of  the  words  rj  koX  iiru'^Lvwa-Kere  ;  and  the  simplest 
construction  is  then  that  of  Hofmann,  who  puts  a  colon 
at  i7nyLva)(TK€T€,  and  with  eXirl^ai  he  begins  what  is 
virtually  a  separate  sentence.  "  And  I  hope  that  to  the 
end  ye  will  acknowledge,  as  in  fact  you  acknowledged 
us  in  part,  that  we  are  your  boast,  as  3^ou  also  are 
ours,  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  Other  possi- 
bilities of  punctuation  and  construction  are  so  numerous 
that  it  would  be  endless  to  exhibit  them  ;  and  in  the 
long-run  they  do  not  much  affect  the  sense.  What 
the  reader  has  to  seize  is  that  Paul  has  been  accused 


32      THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

of  insincerity,  especially  in  his  correspondence,  and 
that  he  indignantly  denies  the  charge  ;  that,  in  spite 
of  such  accusations,  he  can  point  to  at  least  a  partial 
recognition  among  the  Corinthians  of  what  he  and  his 
fellow-workers  really  are ;  and  that  he  hopes  their 
confidence  in  him  will  increase  and  continue  to  the 
end.  Should  this  bright  hope  be  gratified,  then  in 
the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus  it  will  be  the  boast  of  the 
Corinthians  that  they  had  the  great  Apostle  Paul  as 
their  spiritual  father,  and  the  boast  of  the  Apostle  that 
the  Corinthians  were  his  spiritual  children. 

A  passage  like  this — and  there  are  many  like  it  in 
St.  Paul — has  something  in  it  humiliating.  Is  it  not 
a  disgrace  to  human  nature  that  a  man  so  open,  so 
truthful,  so  brave,  should  be  put  to  his  defence  on  a 
charge  of  underhand  deahng?  Ought  not  somebody 
to  have  been  deeply  ashamed,  for  bringing  this  shame 
on  the  Apostle  ?  Let  us  be  very  careful  how  we  lend 
motives,  especially  to  men  whom  we  kn-ow  to  be  better 
than  ourselves.  There  is  that  in  all  our  hearts  which 
is  hostile  to  them,  and  would  not  be  grieved  to  see 
them  degraded  a  little  ;  and  it  is  that,  and  nothing 
else,  which  supplies  bad  motives  for  their  good  actions, 
and  puts  an  ambiguous  face  on  their  simplest  behaviour. 
*'  Deceit,"  says  Solomon,  ''  is  in  the  heart  of  them  that 
imagine  evil "  ;  it  is  our  own  selves  that  we  condemn 
most  surely  when  we  pass  our  bad  sentence  upon 
others. 

The  immediate  result  of  imputing  motives,  and 
putting  a  sinister  interpretation  on  actions,  is  that 
mutual  confidence  is  destroyed  ;  and  mutual  confidence 
is  the  very  element  and  atmosphere  in  which  any 
spiritual  good  can  be  done.  Unless  a  minister  and 
his  congregation  recognise  each  other  as  in  the  main 


i.8-14.]  FAITH  BORN  OF  DESPAIR  33 

what  they  profess  to  be,  their  relation  is  destitute  of 
spiritual  reality ;  it  may  be  an  infinite  weariness,  or 
an  infinite  torment ;  it  can  never  be  a  comfort  or  a 
delight  on  one  side  or  the  other.  What  would  a  family 
be,  without  the  mutual  confidence  of  husband  and  wife, 
of  parents  and  children  ?  What  is  a  state  worth,  for 
any  of  the  ideal  ends  for  which  a  state  exists,  if  those 
who  represent  it  to  the  world  have  no  instinctive 
sympathy  with  the  general  life,  and  if  the  collective 
conscience  regards  the  leaders  from  a  distance  with 
dislike  or  distrust  ?  And  what  is  the  pastoral  relation 
worth,  if,  instead  of  mutual  cordiality,  openness,  readi- 
ness to  believe  and  to  hope  the  best,  instead  of  mutual 
intercession  and  thanksgiving,  of  mutual  rejoicing  in 
each  other,  there  is  suspicion,  reserve,  insinuation, 
coldness,  a  grudging  recognition  of  what  it  is  impos- 
sible to  deny,  a  willingness  to  shake  the  head  and  to 
make  mischief?  What  an  experience  of  life  we  see, 
what  a  final  appreciation  of  the  best  thing,  in  that 
utterance  of  St.  John  in  extreme  age  :  ''  Beloved,  let  us 
love  one  another."  All  that  is  good  for  us,  all  glory 
and  joy,  is  summarily  comprehended  in  that. 

The  last  words  of  the  text — "  the  day  of  the  Lord 
Jesus " — recall  a  very  similar  passage  in  i  Thess. 
ii.  19  :  "  What  is  our  hope,  or  joy,  or  crown  of 
rejoicing — is  it  not  even  ye — before  our  Lord  Jesus  at 
His  coming?"  In  both  cases  our  minds  are  lifted  to 
that  great  presence  in  which  St.  Paul  habitually  lived  ; 
and  as  we  stand  there  our  disagreements  sink  into 
their  true  proportions  ;  our  judgments  of  each  other 
are  seen  in  their  true  colours.  No  one  will  rejoice 
then  that  he  has  made  evil  out  of  good,  that  he  has 
cunningly  perverted  simple  actions,  that  he  has  dis- 
covered the  infirmities  of  preachers,  or  set  the  saints 

3 


34     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

at  variance ;  the  joy  will  be  for  those  who  have  loved 
and  trusted  each  other,  who  have  borne  each  other's 
faults  and  laboured  for  their  healing,  who  have  believed 
all  things,  hoped  all  things,  endured  all  things,  rather 
than  be  parted  from  each  other  by  any  failure  of  love. 
The  mutual  confidence  of  Christian  ministers  and 
Christian  people  will  then,  after  all  its  trials,  have  its 
exceeding  great  reward. 


Ill 

THE  CHURCH'S  ONE  FOUNDATION 

"  And  in  this  confidence  I  was  minded  to  come  before  unto  you, 
that  ye  might  have  a  second  benefit ;  and  by  you  to  pass  into 
Macedonia,  and  again  from  Macedonia  to  come  unto  you,  and  of  you 
to  be  set  forward  on  my  journey  unto  Judaea,  When  I  therefore 
was  thus  minded,  did  I  show  fickleness?  or  the  things  that  I  purpose, 
do  I  purpose  according  to  the  flesh,  that  with  me  there  should  be  the 
yea  yea  and  the  nay  nay  ?  But  as  God  is  faithful,  our  word  toward 
j'ou  is  not  yea  and  nay.  For  the  Son  of  God,  Jesus  Christ,  who  was 
preached  among  you  by  us,  even  by  me  and  Silvanus  and  Timothy, 
was  not  3'ea  and  nay,  but  in  Him  is  yea.  For  how  many  soever  be 
the  promises  of  God,  in  Him  is  the  yea  :  wherefore  also  through  Him 
is  the  Amen,  unto  the  glory  of  God  through  us," — 2  Cor,  i.  15-20 
(R.V.). 

THE  emphatic  words  in  the  first  sentence  are  "  in 
this  confidence."  All  the  Apostle's  plans  for 
visiting  Corinth,  both  in  general  and  in  their  details, 
depended  upon  the  maintenance  of  a  good  under- 
standing between  himself  and  the  Church ;  and  the 
very  prominence  here  given  to  this  condition  is  a  tacit 
accusation  of  those  whose  conduct  had  destroyed  his 
confidence.  When  he  intimated  his  intention  of  visit- 
ing them,  according  to  the  programme  of  vv.  15  and  16, 
he  had  felt  sure  of  a  friendly  welcome,  and  of  the 
cordial  recognition  of  his  apostolic  authority ;  it  was 
only  when  that  assurance  was  taken  away  from  him 
by  news  of  what  was  being  said  and  done  at  Corinth, 
that   he   had   changed    his    plan.      He    had   originally 

35 


36     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO      HE  CORINTHIANS 


intended  to  go  from  Ephesus  to  Corinth,  then  from 
Corinth  north  into  Macedonia,  then  back  to  Corinth 
again,  and  thence,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Corinthians, 
or  their  convoy  for  part  of  the  way,  to  Jerusalem.  Had 
this  purpose  been  carried  out,  he  would  of  course  have 
been  twice  in  Corinth,  and  it  is  to  this  that  most 
scholars  refer  the  words  "  a  second  benefit,"  ^  or  rather 
"  grace."  This  reference,  indeed,  is  not  quite  certain  ; 
and  it  cannot  be  proved,  though  it  is  made  more  pro- 
bable, by  using  irpoTepov  and  Sevripav  to  interpret  each 
other.  It  remains  possible  that  when  Paul  said,  "  I 
was  minded  to  come  before  unto  you,  that  ye  might 
have  a  second  benefit,"  he  was  thinking  of  his  original 
visit  as  the  first,  and  of  this  purposed  one  as  the 
second,  "grace."  This  reading  of  his  words  has  com- 
mended itself  to  scholars  like  Calvin,  Bengel,  and 
Heinrici.  Whichever  of  these  interpretations  be 
correct,  the  Apostle  had  abandoned  his  purpose  of 
going  from  Ephesus  to  Macedonia  via  Corinth,  and 
had  intimated  in  the  First  Epistle  (chap.  xvi.  5)  his 
intention  of  reaching  Corinth  via  Macedonia.  This 
change  of  purpose  is  not  sufficient  to  explain  what 
follows.  Unless  there  had  been  at  Corinth  a  great 
deal  of  bad  feeling,  it  would  have  passed  without 
remark,  as  a  thing  which  had  no  doubt  good  reasons, 
though  the  Corinthians  were  ignorant  of  them ;  at  the 
very  most,  it  would  have  called  forth  expressions  of 
disappointment  and  regret.  They  would  have  been 
sorry  that  the  benefit  (%ap£9),  the  token  of  Divine 
favour  which  was  always  bestowed  when  the  Apostle 

*  For  X(£pi»',  (benefit)  J<%  B,  L,  P,  have  xap^i"  (Joy-)  Though 
Westcott  and  Hort  put  this  in  the  text,  and  xaptJ'  in  the  margin,  most 
scholars  are  agreed  that  x^P^^  ^s  the  Apostle's  word,  and  x^P°^  a 
slip  or  a  correction. 


i.  IS-20.]       THE  CHUR'  VS  ONE  FOUNDATION  37 

came  ^'in  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  Christ,"  and 
'Monging  to  impart  some  spiritual  gift,"  had  been 
delayed  ;  but  they  would  have  acquiesced  as  in  any 
other  natural  disappointment.  But  this  was  not  what 
took  place.  They  used  the  Apostle's  change  of  purpose 
to  assail  his  character.  They  charged  him  with  "  light- 
ness," with  worthless  levity.  They  called  him  a 
weathercock,  a  Yes  and  No  man,  who  said  now  one 
thing  and  now  the  opposite,  who  said  both  at  once  and 
with  equal  emphasis,  who  had  his  own  interests  in 
view  in  his  fickleness,  and  whose  word,  to  speak  plainly, 
could  never  be  depended  upon. 

The  responsibility  for  the  change  of  plan  has  alread}^, 
in  the  emphatic  ravrr]  rf}  TreTrotdrjaetf  been  indirectly 
transferred  to  his  accusers ;  but  the  Apostle  stoops  to 
answer  them  quite  straightforwardly.  His  answer  is 
indeed  a  challenge  :  ''  When  I  cherished  that  first 
wish  to  visit  you,  luas  I — dare  you  say  I  was — guilty 
of  the  levity  with  which  you  charge  me  ?  Or — to 
enlarge  the  question,  and,  seeing  that  my  whole  cha- 
racter is  attacked,  to  bring  my  character  as  a  whole 
into  the  discussion — the  things  that  I  purpose,  do  I 
purpose  according  to  the  flesh,  that  with  me  there 
should  be  the  yea  yea  and  the  nay  nay?"  Am  I, 
he  seems  to  say,  in  my  character  and  conduct,  like 
a  shifty,  unprincipled  politician — a  man  who  has  no 
convictions,  or  no  conscience  about  his  convictions — 
a  man  who  is  guided,  not  by  any  higher  spirit  dwelling 
in  him,  but  solely  by  considerations  of  selfish  interest  ? 
Do  I  say  things  out  of  mere  compliment,  not  meaning 
them  ?  When  I  make  promises,  or  announce  inten- 
tions, is  it  always  with  the  tacit  reservation  that  they 
may  be  cancelled  if  they  turn  out  inconvenient  ?  Do 
you   suppose  that  I  purposely  represent  myself  (Jva  /; 


38     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

Trap'  ifjiol)  as  a  man  who  affirms  and  denies,  makes 
promises  and  breaks  them,  has  Yes  yes  and  No  no 
dweUing  side  by  side  in  his  soul  ?  ^  You  know  me  far 
better  than  to  suppose  any  such  thing.  All  my  com- 
munications with  you  have  been  inconsistent  with  such 
a  view  of  my  character.  As  God  is  faithful,  our  word 
to  you  is  not  Yes  and  No.  It  is  not  incoherent,  or 
equivocal,  or  self-contradictory.  It  is  entirely  truthful 
and  self-consistent. 

In  this  eighteenth  verse  the  Apostle's  mind  is  reaching 
out  already  to  what  he  is  going  to  make  his  real  defence, 
ando  \6709  rifjLOjv  (''our  word")  therefore  carries  a  double 
weight.  It  covers  at  once  whatever  he  had  said  to  them 
about  the  proposed  journey,  and  whatever  he  had  said 
in  his  evangelistic  ministry  at  Corinth.  It  is  this  latter 
sense  of  it  that  is  continued  in  ver.  19 :  "  For  the  Son 
of  God,  Christ  Jesus,  who  was  preached  among  you  by 
us,  by  me  and  Silvanus  and  Timotheus,  was  not  Yes 
and  No,  but  in  him  Yes  has  found  place.  For  how 
many  soever  are  the  promises  of  God,  in  Him  is  the 
Yes."  Let  us  notice  first  the  argumentative  force  of 
this.  Paul  is  engaged  in  vindicating  his  character, 
and  especially  in  maintaining  his  truthfulness  and 
sincerity.  How  does  he  do  so  here  ?  His  unspoken 
assumption  is,  that  character  is  determined  by  the 
main  interest  of  Hfe ;  that  the  work  to  which  a  man 


*  Mention  may  be  made  here  of  another  interpretation  of  ver.  17, 
modifications  of  which  recur  from  Chrysostom  to  Hofmann.  In 
substance  it  is  this:  "The  things  that  I  purpose,  do  I  purpose 
according  to  the  flesh  (i.e.,  with  the  stubborn  consistency  of  a  proud 
man,  who  disposes  as  well  as  proposes),  that  w4th  me  (ifioi  emphatic  : 
me,  as  if  /  were  God,  always  to  do  what  I  would  like  to  do)  the  Yes 
should  be  yes,  and  the  No,  no — i.e.,  every  promise  inviolably  kept  ?  ' 
This  is  grammatically  quite  good,  but  contextually  impossible. 


i.  15-20.]       THE   CHURCH'S   ONE  FOUNDATION  39 

gives  his  soul  will  react  upon  the  soul,  changing  it 
into  its  own  likeness.  As  the  dyer's  hand  is  subdued 
to  the  element  it  works  in,  so  was  the  whole  being  of 
Paul — such  is  the  argument — subdued  to  the  element 
in  which  he  wrought,  conformed  to  it,  impregnated  by 
it.  And  what  was  that  element  ?  It  was  the  Gospel 
concerning  God's  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  Was  there  any 
dubiety  about  what  that  was  ?  any  equivocal  mixture 
of  Yes  and  No  there  ?  Far  from  it.  Paul  was  so 
certain  of  what  it  was  that  he  repeatedly  and  solemnly 
anathematised  man  or  angel  who  should  venture  to 
qualify,  let  alone  deny  it.  There  is  no  mixture  of  Yes 
and  No  in  Christ.  As  the  Apostle  says  elsewhere 
(Rom.  XV,  8),  Jesus  Christ  was  a  minister  of  the 
circumcision  "  in  the  interest  of  the  truth  of  God^  with 
a  view  to  the  confirmation  oj  the  promises T  However 
many  the  promises  might  be,  in  Him  a  mighty  affirma- 
tion, a  mighty  fulfilment,  was  given  of  every  one.  The 
ministry  of  the  Gospel  has  this,  then,  as  its  very  sub- 
ject, its  constant  preoccupation,  its  highest  glory — the 
absolute  faithfulness  of  God.  Who  would  venture  to 
assert  that  Paul,  or  that  anybody,^  could  catch  the 
trick  of  equivocation  in  such  a  service  ?  Who  does 
not  see  that  such  a  service  must  needs  create  true 
men? 

'  According  to  Schmiedel,  in  the  words  5i'  T]ii!hv  .  .  5t'  ifwO  Kai 
"ZLXovavoO  Kal  Ti/xoOeov  we  ought  to  discover  an  emphatic  reference, 
by  way  of  contrast,  to  Judaising  opponents  of  Paul  in  Corinth. 
These  are  said  to  have  brought  another  Jesus  (xi.  4),  who  was  noti 
God's  lULos  vibs  in  Paul's  sense  (Rom.  viii.  32),  and  in  whom  there 
was  Yea  and  Nay — namely,  the  confirmation  of  the  promises  to  the 
Jews  or  those  who  became  Jews  to  receive  them,  and  the  refusal  of 
the  promises  to  the  Gentiles  as  such.  It  needs  a  keen  scent  to 
discover  this,  and  as  the  Corinthians  read  without  a  commentator  it 
would  probably  be  thrown  away  upon  them. 


40     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

To  this  argument  there  is,  for  the  natural  man,  a 
ready  answer.  It  by  no  means  follows,  he  will  say, 
that  because  the  Gospel  is  devoid  of  ambiguity  or 
inconsistency,  equivocation  and  insincerity  must  be 
unknown  to  its  preachers.  A  man  may  proclaim  the 
true  Gospel  and  in  his  other  dealings  be  far  from  a  true 
man.  Experience  justifies  this  reply ;  and  yet  it  does 
not  invalidate  Paul's  argument.  That  argument  is 
good  for  the  case  in  which  it  is  applied.  It  might  be 
repeated  by  a  hypocrite,  but  no  hypocrite  could  ever 
have  invented  it.  It  bears,  indeed,  a  striking  because 
an  unintentional  testimony  to  the  height  at  which  Paul 
habitually  lived,  and  to  his  unqualified  identification  of 
himself  with  his  apostolic  calling.  If  a  man  has  ten 
interests  in  life,  more  or  less  divergent,  he  may  have 
as  many  inconsistencies  in  his  behaviour ;  but  if  he  has 
said  with  St.  Paul,  "  This  one  thing  I  do,"  and  if  the 
one  thing  which  absorbs  his  very  soul  is  an  unceasing 
testimony  to  the  truth  and  faithfulness  of  God,  then  it 
is  utterly  incredible  that  he  should  be  a  false  and  faith- 
less man.  The  work  which  claims  him  for  its  own 
with  this  absolute  authority  will  seal  him  with  its  own 
greatness,  its  own  simplicity  and  truth.  He  will  not 
use  levity.  The  things  which  he  purposes,  he  will  not 
purpose  according  to  the  flesh.  He  will  not  be  guided 
by  considerations  perpetually  varying,  except  in  the 
point  of  being  all  alike  selfish.  He  will  not  be  a 
Yes  and  No  man,  whom  nobody  can  trust. 

The  argumentative  force  of  the  passage  being  admitted, 

its  doctrinal  import  deserves  attention.     The  Gospel — 

which  is  identified   with  God's   Son,  Jesus  Christ — is 

j  here  described  as  a  mighty  affirmation.     It  is  not  Yes 

I  and  No,  a  message  full  of  inconsistencies,  or  ambiguities, 

a  proclamation  the   sense  of  which  no  one  can  ever 


i.  I5-20.]       THE  CHURCirS   ONE  FOUNDATION  41 

be  sure  he  has  grasped.  In  it  (eV  avrw  means  '*  in 
Christ " )  the  everlasting  Yea  has  found  place.  The 
perfect  tense  (jiyovev)  means  that  this  grand  affirmation 
has  come  to  us,  and  is  with  us,  for  good  and  all.  What 
it  was  and  continued  to  be  in  Paul's  time,  it  is  to  this 
day.  It  is  in  this  positive,  definite,  unmistakable 
character  that  the  strength  of  the  Gospel  lies.  What 
a  man  cannot  know,  cannot  seize,  cannot  tell,  he  cannot 
preach.  The  refutation  of  popular  errors,  even  in 
theology,  is  not  gospel ;  the  criticism  of  traditional 
theories,  even  about  Scripture,  is  not  gospel ;  the  in- 
tellectual "  economy,"  with  which  a  clever  man  in  a 
dubious  position  uses  language  about  the  Bible  or  its 
doctrines  which  to  the  simple  means  Yes,  and  to  the 
subtle  qualifies  the  Yes  enormously,  is  not  gospel. 
There  is  no  strength  in  any  of  these  things.  Dealing 
in  them  does  not  make  character  simple,  sincere, 
massive.  Christian.  When  they  stamp  themselves  on 
the  soul,  the  result  is  not  one  to  which  we  could  make 
the  appeal  which  Paul  makes  here.  If  we  have  any 
gospel  at  all,  it  is  because  there  are  things  which  stand 
for  us  above  all  doubts,  truths  so  sure  that  we  cannot 
question  them,  so  absolute  that  we  cannot  qualify  them, 
so  much  our  life  that  to  tamper  with  them  is  to  touch 
our  very  heart.  Nobody  has  any  right  to  preach  who 
has  not  mighty  affirmations  to  make  concerning  God's 
Son,  Jesus  Christ — affirmations  in  which  there  is  no 
ambiguity,  and  which  no  questioning  can  reach. 

In  the  Apostle's  mind  a  particular  turn  is  given  to 
this  thought  by  its  connexion  with  the  Old  Testament. 
In  Christ,  he  says,  the  Yes  has  been  realised ;  for  how 
many  soever  are  the  promises  of  God,  in  Him  is  the 
Yes.  The  mode  of  expression  is  rather  peculiar,  but 
the  meaning  is  quite  plain.     Is  there  a  single  word  of 


42      THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

good,  Paul  asks,  that  God  has  ever  spoken  concerning 
man  ?  Then  that  word  is  reaffirmed,  it  is  confirmed, 
it  is  fulfilled  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  no  longer  a  word, 
but  an  actual  gift  to  men,  which  they  may  take  hold 
of  and  possess.  Of  course  when  Paul  says  **  how 
many  soever  are  the  promises/'  he  is  thinking  of  the 
Old  Testament.  It  was  there  the  promises  stood  in 
God's  name ;  and  hence  he  tells  us  in  this  passage  that 
Christ  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  Old  Testament ;  in  Him 
God  has  kept  His  word  given  to  the  fathers.  All  that 
the  holy  men  of  old  were  bidden  to  hope  for,  as  the 
Spirit  spoke  through  them  in  many  parts  and  in  many 
ways,  is  given  to  the  world  at  last  :  he  who  has  God's 
Son,  Jesus  Christ,  has  all  God  has  promised,  and  all 
He  can  give. 

There  are  two  opposite  ways  of  looking  at  the  Old 
Testament  with  which  this  apostolic  teaching  is  incon- 
sistent, and  which,  by  anticipation,  it  condemns. 

There  is  the  opinion  of  those  who  say  that  God's 
promises  to  His  people  in  the  Old  Testament  have  not 
been  fulfilled,  and  never  will  be.  That  is  the  opinion 
held  by  many  among  the  modern  Jews,  who  have 
renounced  all  that  was  most  characteristic  in  the  religion 
of  their  fathers,  and  attenuated  it  into  the  merest 
deistical  film  of  a  creed.  It  is  the  opinion  also  of  many 
who  study  the  Bible  as  a  piece  of  literary  antiquity, 
but  get  to  no  perception  of  the  life  which  is  in  it,  or  of 
the  organic  connexion  between  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  New.  What  the  Apostle  says  of  his  countrymen 
in  his  own  time  is  true  of  both  these  classes — when 
they  read  the  Scriptures,  there  is  a  veil  upon  their 
hearts.  The  Old  Testament  promises  have  been  ful- 
filled, every  one  of  them.  Let  a  man  be  taught  what 
they  mean,  not  as  dead  letters  in  an  ancient  scroll,  but 


i.  15-20.]       THE  CHURCH'S  ONE  FOUNDATION  43 

as  present  words  of  the  living  God  ;  and  then  let  him 
look  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  and  see  whether 
there  is  not  in  Him  the  mighty,  the  perpetual  con- 
firmation of  them  all.  We  smile  sometimes  at  what 
seems  the  whimsical  way  in  which  the  early  Christians, 
who  had  not  yet  a  New  Testament,  found  Christ  every- 
where in  the  Old ;  but  though  it  may  be  possible  to 
err  in  detail  in  this  pursuit,  it  is  not  possible  to  err  on 
the  whole.  The  Old  Testament  is  gathered  up,  every 
living  word  of  it,  in  Him  ;  we  are  misunderstanding  it 
if  we  take  it  otherwise. 

The  opinion  just  described  is  a  species  of  rationalism. 
There  is  another  opinion,  which,  while  agreeing  with 
the  rationalistic  one  that  many  of  God's  promises  in 
the  Old  Testament  have  not  yet  been  fulfilled,  believes 
that  their  fulfilment  is  still  to  be  awaited.  If  one  might 
do  so  without  offence,  I  should  call  this  a  species  of 
fanaticism.  It  is  the  error  of  those  who  take  the  Jewish 
nation  as  such  to  be  the  subject  of  prophecy,  and  hope 
for  its  restoration  to  Palestine,  for  a  revived  Jerusalem, 
a  new  Davidic  monarchy,  even  a  reign  of  Christ  over 
such  an  earthly  kingdom.  All  this,  if  we  may  take  the 
Apostle's  word  for  it,  is  beside  the  mark.  Equally  with 
rationalism  it  loses  the  spirit  of  God's  word  in  the 
letter.  The  promises  have  been  fulfilled  already,  and 
we  are  not  to  look  for  another  fulfilment.  Those  who 
have  seen  Christ  have  seen  all  that  God  is  going  to 
do — and  it  is  quite  adequate — to  make  His  word  good. 
He  who  has  welcomed  Christ  knows  that  not  one  good 
word  of  all  that  God  has  spoken  has  failed.  God  has 
never,  by  the  promises  of  the  Old  Testament,  or  by  the 
instincts  of  human  nature,  put  a  hope  or  a  prayer  into 
man's  heart  that  is  not  answered  and  satisfied  abundantly 
in  His  Son. 


44     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

But  leaving  the  reference  to  the  Old  Testament  on 
one  side,  it  is  well  worth  while  for  us  to  consider  the 
practical  meaning  of  the  truth,  that  all  God's  promises 
are  Yea  in  Christ.  God's  promises  are  His  declarations 
of  what  He  is  willing  to  do  for  men  ;  and  in  the  very 
nature  of  the  case  they  are  at  once  the  inspiration  and 
the  limit  of  our  prayers.  We  are  encouraged  to  ask 
all  that  God  promises,  and  we  must  stop  there.  Christ 
Himself  then  is  the  measure  of  prayer  to  man  ;  we  can 
ask  all  that  is  in  Him ;  we  dare  not  ask  anything  that 
lies  outside  of  Him.  How  the  consideration  of  this 
should  expand  our  prayers  in  some  directions,  and 
contract  them  in  others  !  We  can  ask  God  to  give  us 
Christ's  purity,  Christ's  simplicity,  Christ's  meekness 
and  gentleness,  Christ's  faithfulness  and  obedience, 
Christ's  victory  over  the  world.  Have  we  ever 
measured  these  things  ?  Have  we  ever  put  them  into 
our  prayers  with  any  glimmering  consciousness  of 
their  dimensions,  any  sense  of  the  vastness  of  our 
request  ?  Nay,  we  can  ask  Christ's  glory.  His  Resur- 
rection Life  of  splendour  and  incorruption — the  image 
of  the  heavenly.  God  has  promised  us  all  these  things, 
and  far  more  :  but  has  He  always  promised  what  we 
ask  ?  Can  we  fix  our  eyes  on  His  Son,  as  He  lived 
our  life  in  this  world,  and  remembering  that  this,  so  far 
as  this  world  is  concerned,  is  the  measure  of  promise, 
ask  without  any  qualification  that  our  course  here  may 
be  free  from  every  trouble  ?  Had  Christ  no  sorrow  ? 
Did  He  never  meet  with  ingratitude  ?  Was  He  never 
misunderstood  ?  Was  He  never  hungr}',  thirsty, 
weary  ?  If  all  God's  promises  are  summed  up  in  Him 
— if  He  is  everything  that  God  has  to  give — can  we 
go  boldly  to  the  throne  of  grace,  and  pray  to  be 
exempted  from  what  He  had  to  bear,  or  to  be  richly 


1. 15-20.]       THE   CHURCirS   ONE  FOUNDATION  45 

provided  with  indulgences  which  He  never  knew  ? 
What  if  all  unanswered  prayers  might  be  defined  as 
prayers  for  things  not  included  in  the  promises — prayers 
that  we  might  get  what  Christ  did  not  get,  or  be  spared 
what  He  was  not  spared  ?  The  spirit  of  this  passage, 
however,  does  not  urge  so  much  the  definiteness  as 
the  compass  and  the  certainty  of  the  promises  of  God. 
They  are  so  many  that  Paul  could  never  enumerate 
them,  and  all  of  them  are  sure  in  Christ.  And  when 
our  eyes  are  once  opened  on  Him,  does  not  He  Him- 
self become  as  it  were  inevitably  the  substance  of  our 
prayers  ?  Is  not  our  whole  heart's  desire.  Oh  that 
I  might  win  Him  !  Oh  that  He  might  live  in  me,  and 
make  me  what  He  is !  Oh  that  tJiat  Man  might  arise 
in  me,  that  the  man  I  am  may  cease  to  be  I  Do  we 
not  feel  that  if  God  would  give  us  His  Son,  all  would 
be  ours  that  we  could  take  or  He  could  give  ? 

It  is  in  this  mood — with  the  consciousness,  I  mean, 
that  in  Jesus  Christ  the  sure  promises  of  God  are 
inconceivably  rich  and  good — that  the  Apostle  adds  : 
**  wherefore  also  through  Him  is  the  Amen."  It  is  not 
easy  to  put  a  prayer  into  words,  whether  of  petition  or 
thanksgiving,  for  men  are  not  much  in  the  habit  of 
speaking  to  God  ;  but  it  is  easy  to  say  Amen.  That  is 
the  part  of  the  Church  when  God's  Son,  Jesus  Christ, 
is  proclaimed,  clothed  in  His  Gospel.  Apart  from  the 
Gospel,  we  do  not  know  God,  or  what  He  will  do,  or 
will  not  do,  for  sinful  men  ;  but  as  we  listen  to  the 
proclamation  of  His  mercy  and  His  faithfulness,  as  our 
eyes  are  opened  to  see  in  His  Son  all  He  has  promised 
to  do  for  us,  nay,  in  a  sense,  all  He  has  alread}^  done, 
our  grateful  hearts  break  forth  in  one  grand  responsive 
Amen  !  So  let  it  be  !  we  cry.  Unless  God  had  first 
prompted  us  by  sending  His  Son,  we  could  never  have 


46      THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

found  it  in  our  hearts  to  present  such  requests  to  Him ; 
but  through  Christ  we  are  enabled  to  present  them, 
though  it  should  be  at  first  with  only  a  look  at  Him, 
and  an  appropriating  Amen.  It  is  the  very  nature  of 
prayer,  indeed,  to  be  the  answer  to  promise.  Amen  is 
all,  at  bottom,  that  God  leaves  for  us  to  say. 

The  solemn  acceptance  of  a  mercy  so  great — an 
acceptance  as  joyful  as  it  is  solemn,  since  the  Amen 
is  one  rising  out  of  thankful  hearts — redounds  to  the 
glory  of  God.  This  is  the  final  cause  of  redemption, 
and  however  it  may  be  lost  sight  of  in  theologies  which 
make  man  their  centre,  it  is  always  magnified  in  the  New 
Testament.  The  Apostle  rejoices  that  his  ministry  and 
that  of  his  friends  {hi  rjfiwv)  contributes  to  this  glory  ; 
and  the  whole  connexion  of  thought  in  the  passage 
throws  a  light  on  a  great  Bible  word.  God's  glory  is 
identified  here  with  the  recognition  and  appropriation 
by  men  of  His  goodness  and  faithfulness  in  Jesus 
Christ.  He  is  glorified  when  it  dawns  on  human  souls 
that  He  has  spoken  good  concerning  them  beyond 
their  utmost  imaginings,  and  when  that  good  is  seen  to 
be  indubitably  safe  and  sure  in  His  Son.  The  Amen 
in  which  such  souls  welcome  His  mercy  is  the 
equivalent  of  the  Old  Testament  word,  ''Salvation  is 
of  the  Lord."  It  is  expanded  in  an  apostolic  doxology  : 
"  Of  Him,  and  through  Him,  and  to  Him  are  all  things  : 
to  Him  be  glory  for  ever." 


IV 
CHRISTIAN  MYSTERIES 

"  Now  He  that  stablisheth  us  with  you  in  Christ,  and  anointed  us, 
is  God  ;  who  also  sealed  us,  and  gave  us  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit  in 
our  hearts."— 2  Cor.  i.  21,  22  (R.V.). 

IT  is  not  easy  to  show  the  precise  connexion 
between  these  words  and  those  which  immediately 
precede.  Possibly  it  is  emotional,  rather  than  logical. 
The  Apostle's  heart  swells  as  he  contemplates  in  the 
Gospel  the  goodness  and  faithfulness  of  God ;  and 
though  his  argument  is  complete  when  he  has  exhibited 
the  Gospel  in  that  light,  his  mind  dwells  upon  it  in- 
voluntarily, past  the  mere  point  of  proof;  he  lingers 
over  the  wonderful  experience  which  Christians  have 
of  the  rich  and  sure  mercies.  Those  who  try  to  make 
out  a  more  precise  sequence  of  thought  than  this  are 
not  very  successful.  Of  course  it  is  apparent  that  the 
keynote  of  the  passage  is  in  harmony  with  that  of 
the  previous  verses.  The  ideas  of  "  stablishing,"  of 
"sealing,"  and  of  an  ''  earnest,"  are  all  of  one  family; 
they  are  all,  as  it  were,  variations  of  the  one  mighty 
affirmation  which  has  been  made  of  God's  promises  in 
Christ.  From  this  point  of  view  they  have  an  argu- 
mentative value.  They  suggest  that  God,  in  all  sorts 
of  ways,  makes  believers  as  sure  of  the  Gospel,  and 
as  constant  to  it,  as  He  has  made  it  sure  and  certain 

47 


48     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

to  them  ;  and  thus  they  exclude  more  decisively  than 
ever  the  idea  that  the  minister  of  the  Gospel  can  be  a 
man  of  Yes  and  No.  But  though  this  is  true,  it  fails 
to  do  justice  to  the  word  on  which  the  emphasis  falls — 
namely,  God.  This,  according  to  some  interpreters,  is 
done,  if  we  suppose  the  whole  passage  to  be,  in  the 
first  instance,  a  disclaimer  of  any  false  inference  which 
might  be  drawn  from  the  words,  *'  to  the  glory  of  God 
by  Its.''  '^  By  us,"  Paul  writes  ;  for  it  was  through  the 
apostolic  preaching  that  men  were  led  to  receive  the 
Gospel,  to  look  at  God's  promises,  confirmed  in  Christ, 
,  with  an  appropriating  Amen  to  His  glory ;  but  he 
hastens  to  add  that  it  was  God  Himself  whose  grace 
in  its  various  workings  was  the  beginning,  middle,  and 
end  both  of  their  faith  and  of  their  preaching.  This 
seems  to  me  rather  artificial,  and  I  do  not  think  more 
than  a  connexion  in  sentiment,  rather  than  in  argument, 
can  be  insisted  upon. 

But  setting  this  question  aside,  the  interpretation  of 
the  two  verses  is  of  much  interest.  They  contain 
some  of  the  most  peculiar  and  characteristic  words  of 
the  New  Testament — words  to  which,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
many  readers  attach  no  very  distinct  idea.  The 
simplest  plan  is  to  take  the  assertions  one  by  one,  as 
if  God  were  the  subject.  Grammatically  this  is  in- 
correct, for  6)eo9  is  certainly  the  predicate ;  but  for  the 
elucidation  of  the  meaning  this  may  be  disregarded. 

(i)  First  of  all,  then,  God  confirms  us  into  Christ. 
"  Us,"  of  course,  means  St.  Paul  and  the  preachers 
whom  he  associates  with  himself, — Silas  and  Timothy. 
But  when  he  adds  "  with  you,"  he  includes  the 
Corinthians  also,  and  all  believers.  He  does  not  claim 
for  himself  any  stedfastness  in  Christ,  or  any  trust- 
worthiness as  dependent  upon  it,  which  he  would  on 


i.2i,22.]  CHRISTIAN  MYSTERIES  49 

principle  refuse  to  others.  God,  who  makes  His  pro- 
mises sure  to  those  who  receive  them,  gives  those  who 
receive  them  a  firm  grasp  of  the  promises.  Christ  is 
here,  with  all  the  wealth  of  grace  in  Him,  indubitable, 
unmistakable  ;  and  what  God  has  done  on  that  side, 
He  does  on  the  other  also.  He  confirms  believers  into 
Christ.  He  makes  their  attachment  to  Christ,  their 
possession  of  Him,  a  thing  indubitable  and  irreversible. 
Salvation,  to  use  the  words  of  St.  John,  is  true  in  Him 
and  in  them  ;  in  them,  so  far  as  God's  purpose  and 
work  go,  as  much  as  in  Him.  He  who  is  confirmed 
into  Christ  is  in  principle  as  trustworthy,  as  abso- 
lutely to  be  depended  upon,  as  Christ  Himself.  The 
same  character  of  pure  truth  is  common  to  them  both. 
Christ's  existence  as  the  Saviour,  in  whom  all  God's 
promises  are  guaranteed,  and  Paul's  existence  as  a 
saved  man  with  a  sure  grasp  on  all  these  promises,  are 
ahke  proofs  that  God  is  faithful ;  the  truth  of  God 
stands  behind  them  both.  It  is  to  this  that  the  appeal 
of  vv.  1 5-20  is  virtually  made  ;  it  is  this  in  the  long- 
run  which  is  called  in  question  when  the  trustworthi- 
ness of  Paul  is  impeached. 

All  this,  it  may  be  said,  is  ideal  ;  but  in  what  sense 
is  it  so  ?  Not  in  the  sense  that  it  is  fanciful  or  unreal ; 
but  in  the  sense  that  the  divine  law  of  our  life,  and  the 
divine  action  upon  our  life,  are  represented  in  it.  It 
is  our  calling  as  Christian  people  to  be  stedfast  in 
Christ.  Such  stedfastness  God  is  ever  seeking  to 
impart,  and  in  striving  to  attain  to  it  we  can  always 
appeal  to  Him  for  help.  It  is  the  opposite  of  instability  ; 
in  a  special  sense  it  is  the  opposite  of  untrustworthincsp. 
If  we  are  letting  God  have  His  way  with  us  in  this 
respect,  we  are  persons  who  can  always  be  depended 
upon,  and  depended  upon  for  conduct  in  keeping  with 

4 


50     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

the  goodness  and   faithfulness  of  God,  info  which  we 
have  been  confirmed  by  Him. 

(2)  From  this  general  truth,  with  its  application  to  all 
believers,  the  Apostle  passes  to  another  of  more  limited 
range.  By  including  the  Corinthians  with  himself  in 
the  first  clause,  he  virtually  excludes  them  in  the 
second — ''  God  anointed  us."  It  is  true  that  the  New 
Testament  speaks  of  an  anointing  which  is  common  to 
all  believers — *'  Ye  have  an  anointing  from  the  Holy 
One ;  ye  all  know "  ( i  John  ii.  20)  :  but  here,  on  the 
contrary,  something  special  is  meant.  This  can  only 
be  the  consecration  of  Paul,  and  of  those  for  whom  he 
speaks,  to  the  apostolic  or  evangelistic  ministry.  It 
is  worth  noticing  that  in  the  New  Testament  the  act 
of  anointing  is  never  ascribed  to  any  one  but  God. 
The  only  unction  which  qualifies  for  service  in  the 
Christian  dispensation,  or  which  confers  dignity  in  the 
Christian  community,  is  the  unction  from  on  high. 
"  God  anointed  Jesus  of  Nazareth  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  with  power,"  and  it  is  the  participation  in 
this  great  anointing  which  capacitates  any  one  to  work 
in  the  Gospel.^  Paul  undoubtedly  claimed,  in  virtue 
of  his  divine  call  to  apostleship,  a  peculiar  authority 
in  the  Church  ;  but  we  cannot  define  any  peculiarity  in 
his  possession  of  the  Spirit.  The  great  gift  which 
must  be  held  in  some  sense  by  all  Christians — "  for  if 
any  man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of 
His " — was  in  him  intensified,  or  specialised,  for  the 
work  he  had  to  do.  But  it  is  one  Spirit  in  him  and 
in  us,  and  that  is  why  we  do  not  find  the  exercise  of 
his  authority  alien  or  galling.     It  is  authority  divorced 

'  Observe  the  play  on  the  words  in  /3e/3atwj'   ei$    X  ptar  6v  and 


i.2i,22.]  CHRISTIAN  MYSTERIES  51 

from  "unction" — authority  without  this  divine  quah'fi- 
cation — against  which  the  Christian  spirit  rebels.  And 
though  "unction"  cannot  be  defined;  though  no 
material  guarantee  can  be  given  or  taken  for  the 
possession  of  the  Spirit ;  though  a  merely  historical 
succession  is,  so  far  as  this  spiritual  competence  and 
dignity  are  concerned,  a  mere  irrelevance  ;  though,  as 
Vinet  said,  we  think  of  unction  rather  when  it  is 
absent  than  when  it  is  present, — still,  the  thing  itself 
is  recognisable  enough.  It  bears  witness  to  itself,  as 
light  does  ;  it  carries  its  own  authority,  its  own  dignity, 
with  it ;  it  is  the  ultima  ratio^  the  last  court  of  appeal, 
in  the  Christian  community.  It  may  be  that  Paul  is 
preparing  already,  by  this  reference  to  his  commission, 
for  the  bolder  assertion  of  his  authority  at  a  later  stage. 

(3)  These  two  actions  of  God,  however — the  establish- 
ing of  believers  in  Christ,  which  goes  on  continually 
{^epatwv),  and  the  consecration  of  Paul  to  the  apostle- 
ship,  which  was  accomplished  once  for  all  {j(piaa<^) — 
go  back  to  prior  actions,  in  which,  again,  all  believers 
have  an  interest.  They  have  a  common  basis  in  the 
great  deeds  of  grace  in  which  the  Christian  life  began. 
God,  he  says,  is  He  who  also  sealed  us,  and  gave  the 
earnest  of  the  Spirit  in  our  hearts. 

"  He  also  sealed  us."  It  seems  strange  that  so 
figurative  a  word  should  be  used  without  a  hint  of  ex- 
planation, and  we  must  assume  that  it  was  so  familiar 
in  the  Church  that  the  right  application  could  be  taken 
for  granted.  The  middle  voice  ((T(f)payi(Td/jL€uo<i)  makes 
it  certain  that  the  main  idea  is,  "  He  marked  us  as 
His  own."  This  is  the  sense  in  which  the  word  is 
frequently  used  in  the  Book  of  Revelation  :  the  serv^ants  >/ 
of  God  are  sealed  on  their  foreheads,  that  they  may 
be  recognised  as  His.     But  what  is  the  seal  ?     Under 


52     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

the  Old  Testament,  the  mark  which  God  set  upon  His 
people — the  covenant  sign  by  which  they  were  identified 
as  His — was  circumcision.  Under  the  New  Testament, 
where  everything  carnal  has  passed  away,  and  religious 
materialism  is  aboUshed,  the  sign  is  no  longer  in  the 
body ;  we  are  sealed  with  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise 
(Eph.  i.  13  f.).  But  the  past  tense  (''He  sealed  us"), 
and  its  recurrence  in  Eph.  i.  13  ("ye  were  sealed"), 
suggest  a  very  definite  reference  of  this  word,  and 
beyond  doubt  it  alludes  to  baptism.  In  the  New  Testa- 
ment, baptism  and  the  giving  of  the  Holy  Spirit  are 
regularly  connected  with  each  other.  Christians  are 
born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit.  "  Repent,"  is  the 
earliest  preaching  of  the  Gospel  (Acts  ii.  38),  "  and  be 
baptised  every  one  of  you,  .  .  .  and  ye  shall  receive 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  In  early  Christian  writers 
the  use  of  the  word  "  seal  "  (acppayls:)  as  a  technical 
term  for  baptism  is  practically  universal ;  and  when  we 
combine  this  practice  with  the  New  Testament  usage 
in  question,  the  inference  is  inevitable.  God  puts  His 
seal  upon  us,  He  marks  us  as  His  own,  when  we  are 
baptised.^ 

'  When  we  consider  the  New  Testament  use  of  this  idea  (cf.  Rom. 
iv.  II  ;  Rev.  vii.  2ff. ;  Eph.  i.  13  f.,  and  this  passage),  and  remember 
that  Paul  and  John  can  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  Greek 
mysteries,  it  will  be  apparent  that  to  adduce  the  ecclesiastical  use  of 
(r(ppayis  as  a  proof  that  the  conceptions  current  in  these  mysteries 
had  a  powerful  influence  from  the  earliest  times  on  the  Christian 
conception  of  baptism  is  beside  the  mark.  One  of  the  earliest 
examples  outside  the  New  Testament  is  in  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas, 
Simt'l.,  viii.  6  :  oi  TriareOcravTes  kuI  eiXrjtpoTes  ttjv  cr(ppay7da  Kal  redXaKores 
avTTjv  Kal  fjLT)  TtjpTjcravTes  vyirj.  This  figure  of  breaking  the  seal,  by 
falling  into  sin  and  losing  what  baptism  confers,  is  common.  Some- 
times it  is  varied  :  "Keep  the  flesh  pure,  koL  ttju  acppay^da  &<XTn\ov," 
in  2  Clem.  viii.  6.  This  may  be  made  to  carry  superstition,  but  there 
is  nothing  superstitious  or  unscriptural  in  it  to  begin  with. 


i.  21, 22.]  CHRISTIAN  MYSTERIE$  53 

But  the  seal  is  not  baptism  as  a  ceremonial  act.  It 
is  neither  immersion  nor  sprinkling  nor  any  other  mode 
of  lustration  which  marks  us  out  as  God's.  The  seal 
by  which  "  the  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  His " 
is  His  Spirit ;  it  is  the  impress  of  His  Spirit  upon  ^ 
them.  When  that  impress  can  be  traced  upon  our 
souls,  by  Him,  or  by  us,  or  by  others,  then  we  have 
the  witness  in  ourselves ;  the  Spirit  bears  witness  with  \ 
our  spirits  that  we  are  children  of  God.  / 

But  of  all  words  '*  spirit "  is  the  vaguest ;  and  if  we 
had  nothing  but  the  word  itself  to  guide  us,  we  should 
either  lapse  into  superstitious  ideas  about  the  virtue 
of  the  sacrament,  or  into  fanatical  ideas  about  incom- 
municable inward  experiences  in  which  God  marked 
us  for  His  own.  The  New  Testament  provides  us  with 
a  more  excellent  way  than  either  ;  it  gives  the  word 
"spirit"  a  rich  but  definite  moral  content;  it  compels 
us,  if  we  say  we  have  been  sealed  with  the  Spirit,  and 
claimed  by  God  as  His,  to  exhibit  the  distinguishing 
features  of  those  who  are  His.  *'  The  Lord  is  the 
Spirit"  (2  Cor.  iii.  17).  To  be  sealed  with  the  Spirit 
is  to  bear,  in  however  imperfect  a  degree,  in  however  " 
inconspicuous  a  style,  the  image  of  the  heavenly  man, 
the  likeness  of  Jesus  Christ.  There  are  many  passages 
in  his  Epistles  in  which  St.  Paul  enlarges  on  the  work 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  soul  ;  all  the  various  dispositions 
which  it  creates,  all  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  may  be 
conceived  as  different  parts  of  the  impression  made 
by  the  seal.  We  must  think  of  these  in  detail,  if  we 
wish  to  give  the  word  its  meaning ;  we  must  think  of 
them  in  contrast  with  the  unspiritual  nature,  if  we  wish 
to  give  it  any  edge.  Once,  say,  we  walked  in  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh  :  has  Christ  redeemed  us,  and  set  on  our 
souls  and   our  bodies  the  seal  of  His  purity  ?     Once 


54     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

we  were  hot  and  passionate,  given  to  angry  words  and 
hasty,  intemperate  deeds :  are  we  sealed  now  with  the 
meekness  and  gentleness  of  Jesus  ?  Once  we  were 
grasping  and  covetous,  even  to  the  verge  of  dishonesty ; 
we  could  not  let  money  pass  us,  and  we  could  not 
part  with  it :  have  we  been  sealed  with  the  liberality  of 
Him  who  says,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive  "  ?  Once  a  wrong  rankled  in  our  hearts ;  the 
sun  went  down  upon  our  wrath,  not  once  or  twice,  but 
a  thousand  times,  and  found  it  as  implacable  as  ever  : 
is  that  deep  brand  of  vindictiveness  effaced  now,  and 
in  its  stead  imprinted  deep  the  Cross  of  Christ,  where 
He  loved  us,  and  gave  Himself  for  us,  and  prayed, 
"  Father,  forgive  them  "  ?  Once  our  conversation  was 
corrupt;  it  had  a  taint  in  it; -it  startled  and  betrayed 
the  innocent ;  it  was  vile  and  foolish  and  unseemly : 
are  these  things  of  the  past  now  ?  and  has  Christ 
set  upon  our  lips  the  seal  of  His  own  grace  and  truth, 
of  His  own  purity  and  love,  so  that  every  word  we 
speak  is  good,  and  brings  blessing  to  those  who  hear 
us  ?  These  things,  and  such  as  these,  are  the  seal 
of  the  Spirit.  They  are  Christ  in  us.  They  are  the 
stamp  which  God  sets  upon  men  when  He  exhibits 
them  as  His  own. 

The  seal,  however,  has  another  use  than  that  of 
marking  and  identifying  property.  It  is  a  symbol  of 
assurance.  It  is  the  answer  to  a  challenge.  It  is 
in  this  sense  that  it  is  easiest  to  apply  the  figure  to 
baptism.  Baptism  does  not,  indeed,  carry  with  it  the 
actual  possession  of  all  these  spiritual  features;  it  is 
not  even,  as  an  opus  operatmUj  the  implanting  of  them 
in  the  soul ;  but  it  is  a  divine  pledge  that  they  are 
within  our  reach  ;  we  can  appeal  to  it  as  an  assurance 
that  God  has  come  to  us  in  His  grace,  has  claimed  us 


i.2i,22.]  CHRISTIAN  MYSTERIES  55 


as  His  own,  and  is  willing  to  conform  us  to  the  image 
of  His  Son.  In  this  sense,  it  is  legitimate  and  natural 
to  call  it  God's  seal  upon  His  people. 

(4)  Side  by  side  with  "  He  sealed  us,"  the  Apostle 
writes,  "  He  gave  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit  in  our 
hearts."  After  what  has  been  said,  it  is  obvious  that 
this  is  another  aspect  of  the  same  thing.  We  are 
sealed  with  the  Spirit,  and  we  get  the  earnest  of  the 
Spirit.  In  other  words,  the  Spirit  is  viewed  in  two 
characters  :  first,  as  a  seal  ;  and  then  as  an  earnest. 
This  last  word  has  a  very  ancient  history.  It  is  found 
in  the  Book  of  Genesis  (xxxviii.  18  :  P^l^),  and  was 
carried,  no  doubt,  by  Phoenician  traders,  who  had  much 
occasion  to  use  it,  both  to  Greece  and  Italy.  From 
the  classical  peoples  it  has  come  more  or  less  directly 
to  us.  It  means  properly  a  small  sum  of  money  paid 
to  clench  a  bargain,  or  to  ratify  an  engagement. 
Where  there  is  an  earnest,  there  is  more  to  follow, 
and  more  of  essentially  the  same  kind — that  is  what  it 
signifies.  Let  us  apply  this  now  to  the  expression  of 
St.  Paul,  ''the  earnest  of  the  Spirit."  It  means,  we 
must  see,  that  in  the  gift  of  this  Spirit,  in  that  measure 
in  which  we  now  possess  it,  God  has  not  given  all  He 
has  to  give.  On  the  contrary,  He  has  come  under  an 
obligation  to  give  more  :  what  we  have  now  is  but 
"the  firstfruits  of  the  Spirit"  (Rom.  viii.  23).  It  is 
an  indication  and  a  pledge  of  what  is  yet  to  be,  but 
bears  no  proportion  to  it.  All  we  can  say  on  the 
basis  of  this  text  is,  that  between  the  present  and  the 
future  gift — between  the  earnest  and  that  which  it 
guarantees — there  must  be  some  kind  of  congruity, 
some  affinity  which  makes  the  one  a  natural  and  not 
an  arbitrary  reason  for  believing  in  the  other. 

But   the  Corinthians  were  not  limited   to  this  text. 


56     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

They  had  St.  Paul's  general  teaching  in  their  minds  to 
interpret  it  by  ;  and  if  we  wish  to  know  what  it  meant 
even  for  them,  we  must  fill  out  this  vague  idea  with 
what  the  Apostle  tells  us  elsewhere.  Thus  in  the 
great  text  in  Ephesians  (i.  13  f.),  so  often  referred  to, 
he  speaks  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  which  we  were 
sealed  as  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance.  God  has  an 
^  ^'  inheritance  "  in  store  for  us.  His  Spirit  makes  us 
sons  ;  and  if  sons,  then  heirs  ;  heirs  of  God,  joint-heirs 
;  with  Christ.  This  connexion  of  the  Spirit,  sonship, 
\  and  inheritance,  is  constant  in  St.  Paul  ;  it  is  one  of 
his  most  characteristic  combinations.  What  then  ^5  the 
inheritance  of  which  the  Spirit  is  the  earnest  ?  That 
no  one  can  tell.  "  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things 
that  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  Him."  But 
though  we  cannot  tell  more  precisely,  we  can  say  that 
if  the  Spirit  is  the  earnest  of  it,  it  must  be  in  some 
sense  a  development  of  the  Spirit ;  life  in  an  order  of 
being  which  matches  the  Spirit,  and  for  which  the 
Spirit  qualifies.  If  we  say  it  is  **  glory,"  then  we  must 
remember  that  only  Christ  in  us  (the  seal  of  the  Spirit) 
can  be  the  hope  of  glory. 

The  application  of  this  can  be  made  very  plain. 
Our  whole  life  in  this  world  looks  to  some  future, 
however  near  or  bounded  it  may  be ;  and  every  power 
we  perfect,  every  capacity  we  acquire,  every  disposition 
and  spirit  we  foster,  is  an  earnest  of  something  in  that 
future.  Here  is  a  man  who  gives  himself  to  the  mastery 
of  a  trade.  He  acquires  all  its  skill,  all  its  methods, 
all  its  resources.  There  is  nothing  any  tradesman  can 
do  that  he  cannot  do  as  well  or  better.  What  is  that 
the  earnest  of?  What  does  it  ensure,  and  as  it  were 
put  into  his  hand  by  anticipation  ?     It  is  the  earnest 


1.21,22.]  CHRISTIAN  MYSTERIES  57 

of  constant  employment,  of  good  wages,  of  respect  from 
fellow-workmen,  perhaps  of  wealth.  Here,  again,  is  a 
man  with  the  scientific  spirit.  He  is  keenly  inquisitive 
about  the  facts  and  laws  of  the  world  in  which  we  live. 
Everything  is  interesting  to  him — astronomy,  physics, 
chemistry,  biology,  history.  What  is  this  the  earnest 
of?  It  is  the  earnest,  probably,  of  scientific  achieve- 
ments of  some  kind,  of  intellectual  toils  and  intellectual 
victories.  This  man  will  enter  into  the  inheritance  of 
science ;  he  will  walk  through  the  kingdoms  of  know- 
ledge in  the  length  of  them  and  the  breadth  of  them, 
and  will  claim  them  as  his  own.  And  so  it  is  wherever 
we  choose  to  take  our  illustrations.  Every  spirit  that 
dwells  in  us,  and  is  cultivated  and  cherished  by  us,  is 
an  earnest^  because  it  fits  and  furnishes  us  for  some 
particular  thing.  God^s  Spirit  also  is  an  earnest  of  an 
inheritance  w^hich  is  incorruptible,  undefiled,  imperish- 
able :  can  we  assure  ourselves  that  we  have  anything 
in  our  souls  which  promises,  because  it  matches  with, 
an  inheritance  Hke  this  ?  When  we  come  to  die,  this 
will  be  a  serious  question.  The  faculties  of  accumula- 
tion, of  mechanical  skill,  of  scientific  research,  of  trade 
on  a  great  or  a  small  scale,  of  agreeable  social  inter- 
course, of  comfortable  domestic  life,  may  have  been 
brought  to  perfection  in  us ;  but  can  we  console 
ourselves  with  the  thought  that  these  have  the  earnest 
of  immortality  ?  Do  they  qualify  us  for,  and  by 
qualifying  assure  us  of,  the  incorruptible  kingdom  ? 
Or  do  we  not  see  at  once  that  a  totally  different  equip- 
ment is  needed  to  make  men  at  home  there,  and  that 
nothing  can  be  the  earnest  of  an  eternal  life  of  blessed- 
ness with  God  except  that  Holy  Spirit  with  which  He 
seals  His  own,  and  through  which  He  makes  them, 
even  here,  partakers  of  the  divine  nature  ? 


58     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

We  cannot  study  these  words  without  becoming 
conscious  of  the  immense  enlargement  which  the 
Christian  religion  has  brought  to  the  human  mind, 
of  the  vast  expansion  of  hope  which  is  due  to  the 
Gospel,  and  at  the  same  time  of  the  moral  soundness 
and  sobriety  with  which  that  hope  is  conceived.  The 
promises  of  God  were  first  really  apprehended  in  Jesus 
Christ ;  in  Him  as  He  lived  and  died  and  rose  again 
from  the  dead,  in  Him  especially  as  He  lives  in 
immortal  glory,  men  first  saw  what  God  was  able  and 
wilHng  to  do  for  them,  and  they  saw  this  in  its  true 
relations.  They  saw  it  under  its  moral  and  spiritual 
conditions.  It  was  not  a  future  unconnected  with  the 
present,  or  connected  with  it  in  an  arbitrary  or  incal- 
culable way.  It  was  a  future  which  had  its  earnest  in 
the  present,  a  guarantee  not  alien  to  it,  but  akin — the 
Spirit  of  Christ  implanted  in  the  heart,  the  likeness  of 
(  Christ  sealed  upon  the  nature.  The  glorious  inheritance 
^  was  the  inheritance,  not  of  strangers,  but  of  sons  ;  and 
\  it  still  becomes  sure  as  the  Spirit  of  sonship  is  received, 
and  fades  into  incredibility  when  that  Spirit  is  extin- 
guished or  depressed.  If  we  could  live  in  the  Spirit 
with  the  completeness  of  Christ,  or  even  of  St.  Paul, 
we  should  feel  that  we  really  had  an  earnest  of  immor- 
tality ;  the  glory  of  heaven  would  be  as  certain  to  us 
as  the  faithfulness  of  God  to  His  promise. 


V 

A   PASTORS  HEART 

"But  I  call  God  for  a  witness  upon  my  soul,  that  to  spare  you  I 
forbare  to  come  unto  Corinth.  Not  that  we  have  lordship  over  your 
faith,  but  are  helpers  of  your  joy :  for  by  faith  ye  stand.  But  I 
determined  this  for  myself,  that  I  would  not  come  again  to  you  with 
sorrow.  For  if  I  make  you  sorry,  who  then  is  he  that  maketh  me 
glad,  but  he  that  is  made  sorry  by  me  ?  And  I  wrote  this  very  thing, 
lest,  when  I  came,  I  should  have  sorrow  from  them  of  whom  I  ought 
to  rejoice;  having  confidence  in  you  all,  that  my  joy  is  the  joy  of  you 
all.  For  out  of  much  affliction  and  anguish  of  heart  I  wrote  unto 
you  with  many  tears;  not  that  ye  should  be  made  sorry,  but  that 
ye  might  know  the  love  which  I  have  more  abundantly  unto  you." — 
2  Cor.  i.  23-ii.  4  (R.V.). 

WHEN  Paul  came  to  the  end  of  the  paragraph  in 
which  he  defends  himself  from  the  charge  of 
levity  and  untrustworthiness  by  appealing  to  the  nature 
of  the  Gospel  which  he  preached,  he  seems  to  have  felt 
that  it  was  hardly  sufficient  for  his  purpose.  It  might 
be  perfectly  true  that  the  Gospel  was  one  mighty 
affirmation,  with  no  dubiety  or  inconsistency  about  it ; 
it  might  be  as  true  that  it  was  a  supreme  testimony 
to  the  faithfulness  of  God ;  but  bad  men,  or  suspicious 
men,  would  not  admit  that  its  character  covered  his. 
Their  own  insincerities  would  keep  them  from  under- 
standing its  power  to  change  its  loyal  ministers  into 
its  own  likeness,  and  to  stamp  them  with  its  own 
simplicity  and  truth.  The  mere  invention  of  the  argu- 
ment in  vv.    18-20    is    of  itself  the    highest    possible 

59 


6o     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

testimony  to  the  ideal  height  at  which  the  Apostle 
lived ;  no  man  conscious  of  duplicity  could  ever  have 
had  it  occur  to  him.  But  it  had  the  defect  of  being 
too  good  for  his  purpose;  the  foolish  and  the  false 
could  see  a  triumphant  reply  to  it ;  and  he  leaves  it 
for  a  solemn  asseveration  of  the  reason  which  actually 
kept  him  from  carrying  out  his  first  intention.  **  I  call 
God  to  witness  against  my  soul,  that  sparing  you  I 
forbore  to  come  ^  to  Corinth."  The  soul  is  the  seat  of 
life ;  he  stakes  his  hfe,  as  it  were,  in  God's  sight,  upon 
the  truth  of  his  words.  It  was  not  consideration  for 
himself,  in  any  selfish  spirit,  but  consideration  for  them, 
which  explained  his  change  of  purpose.  If  he  had 
carried  out  his  intention,  and  gone  to  Corinth,  he  would 
have  had  to  do  so,  as  he  says  in  i  Cor.  iv.  21,  with 
a  rod,  and  this  would  not  have  been  pleasant  either  for 
him  or  for  them. 

This  is  very  plain — plain  even  to  the  dullest ;  the 
Apostle  has  no  sooner  set  it  down  than  he  feels  it  is 
too  plain.  *'To  spare  us,"  he  hears  the  Corinthians 
say  to  themselves  as  they  read  :  *'  who  is  he  that  he 
should  take  this  tone  in  speaking  to  us?"  And  so 
he  hastens  to  anticipate  and  deprecate  their  touchy 
criticism  :  ''  Not  that  we  lord  it  over  your  faith,  but 
we  are  helpers  of  your  joy  ;  as  far  as  faith  is  concerned, 
your  position,  of  course,  is  secure." 

This  is  a  very  interesting  aside  ;  the  digressions  in 
St.  Paul,  as  in  Plato,  are  sometimes  more  attractive 
than  the  arguments.  It  shows  us,  for  one  thing,  the 
freedom    of    the    Christian    faith.       Those    who    have 


'  The  R.V.  "  forbare  to  come  "  has  the  same  vagueness  as  oiK^Ti 
ffKOov,  which  may  mean  (i)  "I  came  not  as  j'et" — so  A.V. ;  or  (2)  "  I 
came  not  again  ";  or  (3)  "  1  came  no  more." 


i.  23-ii.  4]  ^   PASTOR'S  HEART  61 

received  the  Gospel  have  all  the  responsibilities  of 
mature  men ;  they  have  come  to  their  majority  as 
spiritual  beings;  they  are  not,  in  their  character  and 
standing  as  Christians,  subject  to  arbitrary  and  irre- 
sponsible interference  on  the  part  of  others.  Paul 
himself  was  the  great  preacher  of  this  spiritual  eman- 
cipation :  he  gloried  in  the  liberty  with  which  Christ 
made  men  free.  For  him  the  days  of  bondage  were 
over ;  there  was  no  subjection  for  the  Christian  to  any 
custom  or  tradition  of  men,  no  enslavement  of  his 
conscience  to  the  judgment  or  the  will  of  others,  no 
coercion  of  the  spirit  except  by  itself.  He  had  great 
confidence  in  this  Gospel  and  in  its  power  to  produce 
generous  and  beautiful  characters.  That  it  was  capable 
of  perversion  also  he  knew  very  well.  It  was  open 
to  the  infusion  of  self-will ;  in  the  intoxication  of 
freedom  from  arbitrary  and  unspiritual  restraint,  men 
might  forget  that  the  believer  was  bound  to  be  a  law 
to  himself,  that  he  was  free,  not  in  lawless  self-will, 
but  only  in  the  Lord.  Nevertheless,  the  principle  of 
freedom  was  too  sacred  to  be  tampered  with;  it  was 
necessary  both  for  the  education  of  the  conscience  and 
for  the  enrichment  of  spiritual  life  with  the  most  various 
and  independent  types  of  goodness  ;  and  the  Apostle 
took  all  the  risks,  and  all  the  inconveniences  even, 
rather  than  limit  it  in  the  least. 

This  passage  shows  us  one  of  the  inconveniences. 
The  newly  enfranchised  are  mightily  sensible  of  their 
freedom,  and  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  tell  them  of 
their  faults.  At  the  very  mention  of  authority  all  that 
is  bad  in  them,  as  well  as  all  that  is  good,  is  on  the 
alert ;  and  spiritual  independence  and  the  liberty  of 
the  Christian  people  have  been  represented  and  defended 
again  and  again,  not  only  by  an  awful  sense  of  respon- 


62      THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

sibility  to  Christ,  which  Hfts  the  lowliest  lives  into 
supreme  greatness,  but  by  pride,  bigotry,  moral  inso- 
lence, and  every  bad  passion.  What  is  to  be  done  in 
such  cases  as  these,  where  liberty  has  forgotten  the 
law  of  Christ  ?  It  is  certainly  not  to  be  denied  in 
principle :  Paul,  even  with  the  peculiar  position  of  an 
apostle,  and  of  the  spiritual  father  of  those  to  whom  he 
writes  (i  Cor.  iv.  15),  does  not  claim  such  an  authority 
over  their  faith — that  is,  over  the  people  themselves  in 
their  character  of  believers — as  a  master  has  over  his 
slaves.  Their  position  as  Christians  is  se<jure ;  it  is 
taken  for  granted  by  him  as  by  them  ;  and  this  being  so, 
no  arbitrary  ipse  dixit  can  settle  anything  in  dispute 
between  them  ;  he  can  issue  no  orders  to  the  Church 
such  as  the  Roman  Emperor  could  issue  to  his  soldiers. 
He  may  appeal  to  them  on  spiritual  grounds ;  he  may 
enlighten  their  consciences  by  interpreting  to  them  the 
law  of  Christ ;  he  may  try  to  reach  them  by  praise  or 
blame  ;  but  simple  compulsion  is  not  one  of  his  resources. 
If  St.  Paul  says  this,  occupying  as  he  does  a  position 
which  contains  in  itself  a  natural  authority  which  most 
ministers  can  never  have,  ought  not  all  official  persons 
and  classes  in  the  Church  to  beware  of  the  claims  they 
make  for  themselves  ?  A  clerical  hierarchy,  such  as 
has  been  developed  and  perfected  in  the  Church  of 
Rome,  does  lord  it  over  faith  ;  it  legislates  for  the  laity, 
both  in  faith  and  practice,  without  their  co-operation, 
or  even  their  consent ;  it  keeps  the  ccetus  fidelium,  the 
mass  of  believing  men,  which  is  the  Church,  in  a 
perpetual  minority.  All  this,  in  a  so-called  apostolic 
succession,  is  not  only  anti-apostolic,  but  anti-Christian. 
It  is  the  confiscation  of  Christian  freedom  ;  the  keeping 
of  believers  in  leading-strings  all  their  days,  lest  in 
their  liberty  they  should  go  astray.     In  the  Protestant 


i.23-ii.4]  ^   PASTOR'S  HEART  63 


Churches,  on  the  other  hand,  the  danger  on  the  whole 
is  of  the  opposite  kind.  We  are  too  jealous  of 
authority.  We  are  too  proud  of  our  own  competence. 
We  are  too  unwilling,  individually,  to  be  taught  and 
corrected.  We  resent,  1  will  not  say  criticism,  but  the 
most  serious  and  loving  voice  which  speaks  to  us  to 
disapprove.  Now  liberty,  when  it  docs  not  deepen  the 
sense  of  responsibility  to  God  and  to  the  brotherhood 
— and  it  does  not  always  do  so — is  an  anarchic  and 
disintegrating  force.  In  all  the  Churches  it  exists,  to 
some  extent,  in  this  degraded  form ;  and  it  is  this  which 
makes  Christian  education  difficult,  and  Church  dis- 
cipline often  impossible.  These  are  serious  evils,  and 
we  can  only  overcome  them  if  we  cultivate  the  sense 
of  responsibility  at  the  same  time  that  we  maintain  the 
principle  of  liberty,  remembering  that  it  is  those  only 
of  whom  he  says,  "Ye  were  bought  with  a  price"  (and 
are  therefore  Christ's  slaves),  to  whom  St.  Paul  also 
gives  the  charge  :  *'  Be  not  ye  slaves  of  men." 

This  passage  not  only  illustrates  the  freedom  of 
Christian  faith,  it  presents  us  with  an  ideal  of  the 
Christian  ministry.  "  We  are  not  lords  over  your  faith," 
says  St.  Paul,  "  but  we  are  helpers  of  your  joy."  It  is 
implied  in  this  that  joy  is  the  very  end  and  element 
of  the  Christian  life,  and  that  it  is  the  minister's  duty 
to  be  at  war  with  all  that  restrains  it,  and  to  co-operate 
in  all  that  leads  to  it.  Here,  one  would  say,  is  some- 
thing in  which  all  can  agree  :  all  human  souls  long  for 
joy,  however  much  they  may  differ  about  the  spheres 
of  law  and  liberty.  But  have  not  most  Christian 
people,  and  most  Christian  congregations,  something 
here  to  accuse  themselves  of?  Do  not  many  of  us 
bear  false  witness  against  the  Gospel  on  this  very 
point  ?    Who  that  came  into  most  churches,  and  looked 


64     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

at  the  uninterested  faces,  and  hearkened  to  the  Hstless 
singing,  would  feel  that  the  soul  of  the  religion,  so 
languidly  honoured,  was  mere  joy — joy  unspeakable, 
if  we  trust  the  Apostles,  and  full  of  glory?  It  is 
ingratitude  which  makes  us  forget  this.  We  begin  to 
grow  blind  to  the  great  things  which  lie  at  the  basis 
of  our  faith  ;  the  love  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ — that  love 
in  which  He  died  for  us  upon  the  tree — begins  to  lose 
its  newness  and  its  wonder ;  we  speak  of  it  without 
apprehension  and  without  feeling;  it  does  not  make 
our  hearts  burn  within  us  any  more ;  we  have  no  joy 
in  it.  Yet  we  may  be  sure  of  this — that  we  can  have 
no  joy  without  it.  And  he  is  our  best  friend,  the  truest 
minister  of  God  to  us,  who  helps  us  to  the  place  where 
the  love  of  God  is  poured  out  in  our  hearts  in  its 
omnipotence,  and  we  renew  our  joy  in  it.  In  doing  so, 
it  may  be  necessary  for  the  minister  to  cause  pain  by 
the  way.  There  is  no  joy,  nor  any  possibility  of  it, 
where  evil  is  tolerated.  There  is  no  joy  where  sin  has 
been  taken  under  the  patronage  of  those  who  call  them- 
selves by  Christ's  name.  There  is  no  joy  where  pride 
is  in  arms  in  the  soul,  and  is  reinforced  by  suspicion, 
by  obstinacy,  even  by  jealousy  and  hate,  all  waiting  to 
dispute  the  authority  of  the  preacher  of  repentance. 
When  these  evil  spirits  are  overcome,  and  cast  out, 
which  may  only  be  after  a  painful  conflict,  joy  will  have 
its  opportunity  again, — ^joy,  whose  right  it  is  to  reign 
in  the  Christian  soul  and  the  Christian  community. 
Of  all  evangelistic  forces,  this  joy  is  the  most  potent ; 
and  for  that,  above  all  other  reasons,  it  should  be 
cherished  wherever  Christian  people  wish  to  work  the 
work  of  their  Lord. 

After   this  little  digression  on    the    freedom   of  the 
faith,  and  on  joy  as  the  element  of  the  Christian  life, 


i.23-ii.4.  A   PASTOR'S  HEART  65 

Paul  returns  to  his  defence.  "  To  spare  you  I  forbore 
to  come ;  for  I  made  up  my  own  mind  on  this,  not 
to  come  to  you  a  second  time  in  sorrow."  Why  was 
he  so  determined  about  this  ?  He  explains  in  the 
second  verse.  It  is  because  all  his  joy  is  bound  up 
in  the  Corinthians,  so  that  if  he  grieves  them  he  has 
no  one  left  to  gladden  him  except  those  whom  he  has 
grieved — in  other  words,  he  has  no  joy  at  all.  And 
he  not  only  made  up  his  mind  definitely  on  this  ;  he 
wrote  also  in  exactly  this  sense  :  he  did  not  wish, 
when  he  came,  to  have  sorrow  from  those  from  whom 
he  ought  to  have  joy.  In  that  desire  to  spare  himself, 
as  well  as  them,  he  counted  on  their  sympathy ;  he 
was  sure  that  his  own  joy  was  the  joy  of  every  one 
of  them,  and  that  they  would  appreciate  his  motives 
in  not  fulfilling  a  promise,  the  fulfilment  of  which  in 
the  circumstances  would  only  have  brought  grief  both 
to  them  and  him.  The  delay  has  given  them  time  to 
put  right  what  was  amiss  in  their  Church,  and  has 
ensured  a  joyful  time  to  them  all  when  his  visit  is 
actually  accomplished. 

There  are  some  grammatical  and  historical  difficulties 
here  which  claim  attention.  The  most  discussed  is 
that  of  the  first  verse  :  what  is  the  precise  meaning  of 
TO  /at;  iraXiv  iv  Xvirrj  irpo^  vfxa^  ekOelv  ?  There  is  no 
doubt  that  this  is  the  correct  order  of  the  words,  and 
just  as  little,  I  think,  that  the  natural  meaning  is  that 
Paul  had  once  visited  Corinth  in  grief,  and  was 
resolved  not  to  repeat  such  a  visit.  So  the  words 
are  taken  by  Meyer,  Hofmann,  Schmiedel,  and  others. 
The  visit  in  question  cannot  have  been  that  on  occasion 
of  which  the  Church  was  founded  ;  and  as  the  con- 
nexion between  this  passage  and  the  last  chapter  of 
the  First  Epistle  is  as  close  as  can  be  conceived  (see 

5 


66     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

the  Introduction),  it  cannot  have  fallen  between  the 
two  :  the  only  other  supposition  is,  that  it  took  place 
before  the  First  Epistle  was  written.  This  is  the 
opinion  of  Lightfoot,  Meyer,  and  Weiss  ;  and  it  is  not 
fatal  to  it  that  no  such  visit  is  mentioned  elsewhere — 
c.g.y  in  the  book  of  Acts.  Still,  the  interpretation  is 
not  essential ;  and  if  we  can  get  over  chap.  xiii.  2,  it 
is  quite  possible  to  agree  with  Heinrici  that  Paul  had 
only  been  in  Corinth  once,  and  that  what  he  means 
in  ver.  i  here  is  :  "I  determined  not  to  carry  out  my 
purpose  of  revisiting  you,  in  sorrow." 

There  is  a  difficulty  of  another  sort  in  ver.  2.  One's 
first  thought  is  to  read  /cat  rt?  o  ev(j)paiv(ov  fie  k.t.X., 
as  a  real  singular,  with  a  reference,  intelligible  though 
indefinite,  to  the  notorious  but  penitent  sinner  of 
Corinth.  "  I  vex  you,  I  grant  it ;  but  where  does  my 
joy  come  from — the  joy  without  which  I  am  resolved 
not  to  visit  you — except  from  one  who  is  vexed  by 
me  ? "  The  bad  man's  repentance  had  made  Paul 
glad,  and  there  is  a  worthy  considerateness  in  this 
indefinite  way  of  designating  him.  This  interpretation 
has  commended  itself  to  so  sound  a  judge  as  Bengel, 
and  though  more  recent  scholars  reject  it  with  practical 
unanimity,  it  is  difficult  to  be  sure  that  it  is  wrong. 
The  alternative  is  to  generalise  the  rt?,  and  make  the 
question  mean  :  "  If  I  vex  you,  where  can  I  find  joy  ? 
All  my  joy  is  in  you,  and  to  see  you  grieved  leaves  me 
absolutely  joyless." 

A  third  difficulty  is  the  reference  of  eyoa-^jra  tovto 
avTo  in  ver.  3.  Language  very  similar  is  found  in 
ver.  9  (et?  tovto  yap  koX  eypayfra),  and  again  in  chap, 
vii.  8-12  (iXvirrjo-a  vfjLa<;  ev  tyj  eTna-ToXfj).  It  is  very 
natural  to  think  here  of  our  First  Epistle.  It  served 
the  purpose  contemplated  by  the  letter  here  described ; 


i.23-ii.4]  A   PASTOR'S  HEART  67 

it  told  of  Paul's  change  of  purpose ;  it  warned  the 
Corinthians  to  rectify  what  was  amiss,  and  so  to  order 
their  affairs  that  he  might  come,  not  with  a  rod,  but 
in  love  and  in  the  spirit  of  meekness ;  or,  as  he  says 
here,  not  to  have  sorrow,  but,  what  he  was  entitled 
to,  joy  from  his  visit.  All  that  is  alleged  against  this 
is  that  our  First  Epistle  does  not  suit  the  description 
given  of  the  writing  in  ver.  4 :  '*  out  of  much  affliction 
and  anguish  of  heart  I  wrote  unto  you  with  many 
tears."  But  when  those  parts  of  the  First  Epistle  are 
read,  in  which  St.  Paul  is  not  answering  questions 
submitted  to  him  by  the  Church,  but  writing  out  of 
his  heart  upon  its  spiritual  condition,  this  will  appear 
a  dubious  assertion.  What  a  pain  must  have  been 
at  his  heart,  when  such  passionate  words  broke  from 
him  as  these  :  "  Is  Christ  divided  ?  Was  Paul 
crucified  for  you? — What  is  Apollos,  and  what  is 
Paul  ? — With  me  it  is  a  very  little  thing  to  be  judged 
by  you. — Though  ye  have  ten  thousand  instructors  in 
Christ,  yet  have  ye  not  many  fathers  :  for  in  Christ 
Jesus  I  begot  you  through  the  Gospel. — I  will  know, 
not  the  speech  of  them  that  are  puffed  up,  but  the 
power."  Not  to  speak  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  chapters, 
words  like  these  justify  us  in  supposing  that  the  First 
Epistle  may  be,  and  in  all  probability  is,  meant.-^ 

Putting  these  details  aside,  as  of  mainly  historical 
interest,  let  us  look  rather  at  the  spirit  of  this  passage. 
It  reveals,  more  clearly  perhaps  than  any  passage  in 

'  To  suppose  the  reference  to  be  to  an  epistle  carried  by  Titus 
and  now  lost,  is  to  suppose  what  is  incapable  of  proof  or  disproof. 
To  take  ^pa\j/a  as  "epistolary"  aorist,  and  translate  "I  write,"  is 
grammatically,  but  only  grammatically,  possible.  The  supposed 
reference  to  chaps,  x.  I — xiii.  10  as  a  separate  epistle  is  noticed  in 
the  Introduction. 


68     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

the  New  Testament,  the  essential  quahfication  of  the 
Christian  minister — a  heart  pledged  to  his  brethren  in 
the  love  of  Christ.  That  is  the  only  possible  basis  of 
an  authority  which  can  plead  its  own  and  its  Master's 
cause  against  the  aberrations  of  spiritual  liberty,  and 
there  is  always  both  room  and  need  for  it  in  the  Church. 
Certainly  it  is  the  hardest  of  all  authorities  to  win,  and 
the  costliest  to  maintain,  and  therefore  substitutes  for 
it  are  innumerable.  The  poorest  are  those  that  are 
merely  official,  where  a  minister  appeals  to  his  standing 
as  a  member  of  a  separate  order,  and  expects  men  to 
reverence  that.  If  this  was  once  possible  in  Christen- 
dom, if  it  is  still  possible  where  men  secretly  wish 
to  shunt  their  spiritual  responsibilities  upon  others,  it 
is  not  possible  where  emancipation  has  been  grasped 
either  in  an  anarchic  or  in  a  Christian  spirit.  Let  the 
great  idea  of  liberty,  and  of  all  that  is  cognate  with 
liberty,  once  dawn  upon  their  souls,  and  men  will 
never  sink  again  to  the  recognition  of  anything  as  an 
authority  that  does  not  attest  itself  in  a  purely  spiritual 
way.  "  Orders "  will  mean  nothing  to  them  but  an 
arrogant  unreality,  which  in  the  name  of  all  that  is 
free  and  Christian  they  are  bound  to  contemn.  It  will 
be  the  same,  too,  with  any  authority  which  has  merely 
j  an  intellectual  basis.  A  professional  education,  even 
'  in  theology,  gives  no  man  authority  to  meddle  with 
,  another  in  his  character  as  a  Christian.  The  Uni- 
■  versity  and  the  Divinity  Schools  can  confer  no  com- 
petence here.  Nothing  that  distinguishes  a  man  from 
his  fellows,  nothing  in  virtue  of  which  he  takes  a  place 
of  superiority  apart  :  on  the  contrary,  that  love  only 
which  makes  him  entirely  one  with  them  in  Jesus 
.  Christ,  can  ever  entitle  him  to  interpose.  If  their  joy 
is  his  joy  ;  if  to  grieve  them,  even  for  their  good,  is  his 


i.23-ii.4.]  A   PASTORS  HEART  69 


grief;  if  the  cloud  and  sunshine  of  their  lives  cast  their 
darkness  and  their  light  immediately  upon  him ;  if  he 
shrinks  from  the  faintest  approach  to  self-assertion,  yet 
would  sacrifice  anything  to  perfect  their  joy  in  the 
Lord, — then  he  is  in  the  true  apostolical  succession;  and 
whatever  authority  may  rightly  be  exercised,  where 
the  freedom  of  the  spirit  is  the  law,  may  rightly  be 
exercised  by  him.  What  is  required  of  Christian 
workers  in  every  degree — of  ministers  and  teachers, 
of  parents  and  friends,  of  all  Christian  people  with  the 
cause  of  Christ  at  heart — is  a  greater  expenditure  of 
soul  on  their  work.  Here  is  a  whole  paragraph  of 
St.  Paul,  made  up  almost  entirely  of  ''grief"  and 
"joy";  what  depth  of  feeling  lies  behind  it  I  If  this 
is  alien  to  us  in  our  work  for  Christ,  we  need  not 
wonder  that  our  work  does  not  tell. 

And  if  this  is  true  generally,  it  is  especially  true 
when  the  work  we  have  to  do  is  that  of  rebuking  sin. 
There  are  few  things  which  try  men,  and  show  what 
spirit  they  are  of,  more  searchingly  than  this.  We  like 
to  be  on  God's  side,  and  to  show  our  zeal  for  Him, 
and  we  are  far  too  ready  to  put  all  our  bad  passions 
at  His  service.  But  these  are  a  gift  which  He  decHnes. 
Our  wrath  does  not  work  His  righteousness — a  lesson 
that  even  good  men,  of  a  kind,  are  very  slow  to  learn. 
To  denounce  sin,  and  to  declaim  about  it,  is  the  easiest 
and  cheapest  thing  in  the  world  :  one  could  not  do  less 
where  sin  is  concerned,  unless  he  did  nothing  at  all. 
Yet  how  common  denunciation  is.  It  seems  almost  to 
be  taken  for  granted  as  the  natural  and  praiseworthy 
mode  of  dealing  with  evil.  People  assail  the  faults  of 
the  community,  or  even  of  their  brethren  in  the  Church, 
with  violence,  with  temper,  with  the  tone,  often,  of 
injured  innocence.     They  think  that  when  they  do  so 


70     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

they  are  doing  God  service ;  but  surely  we  should 
have  leirned  by  this  time  that  nothing  could  be  so 
unlike  God,  so  unfaithful  and  preposterous  as  a  testi- 
mony for  Him.  God  Himself  overcomes  evil  with 
good ;  Christ  vanquishes  the  sin  of  the  world  by  taking 
the  burden  of  it  on  Himself;  and  if  wx  wish  to  have 
part  in  the  same  work,  there  is  only  the  same  method 
open  to  us.  Depend  upon  it,  we  shall  not  make  others 
weep  for  that  for  which  we  have  not  wept ;  we  shall 
not  make  that  touch  the  hearts  of  others  which  has 
not  first  touched  our  own.  That  is  the  law  which  God 
has  established  in  the  world  ;  He  submitted  to  it  Him- 
self in  the  person  of  His  Son,  and  He  requires  us  to 
submit  to  it.  Paul  was  certainly  a  very  fiery  man ;  he 
could  explode,  or  flame  up,  with  far  more  effect  than 
most  people  ;  yet  it  was  not  there  that  his  great  strength 
lay.  It  was  in  the  passionate  tenderness  that  checked 
that  vehement  temper,  and  made  the  once  haughty 
spirit  say  what  he  says  here :  *'  Out  of  much  afQiction 
and  anguish  of  heart,  I  wrote  unto  you  with  many 
tears,  not  that  you  might  be  grieved,  but  that  you 
might  know  the  love  which  I  have  more  abundantly 
toward  you."  In  words  like  these  the  very  spirit 
speaks  which  is  God's  pov/er  to  subdue  and  save  the 
sinful. 

It  is  worth  dwelling  upon  this,  because  it  is  so 
fundamental,  and  yet  so  slowly  learned.  Even  Christian 
ministers,  who  ought  to  know  the  mind  of  Christ, 
almost  universally,  at  least  in  the  beginning  of  their 
work,  when  they  preach  about  evil,  lapse  into  the 
scolding  tone.  It  is  of  no  use  whatever  in  the  pulpit, 
and  of  just  as  little  in  the  Sunday-school  class,  in  the 
home,  or  in  any  relation  in  which  we  seek  to  exercise 
moral  authority.     The  one  basis  for  that  authority  is 


i.23-ii.4-]  ^    PylSTOR'S  HEART  71 

love  ;  and  the  characteristic  of  love  in  the  presence  of 
evil  is  not  that  it  becomes  angry,  or  insolent,  or  dis- 
dainful, but  that  it  takes  the  burden  and  the  shame  of 
the  evil  to  itself.  The  hard,  proud  licart  is  impotent ; 
the  mere  official  is  impotent,  whether  he  call  iiimself 
priest  or  pastor  ;  all  hope  and  help  lie  in  those  who 
have  learned  of  the  Lamb  of  God  who  bore  the  sin  of 
the  world.  It  is  soul-travail  like  His,  attesting  love 
like  His,  that  wins  all  the  victories  in  which  He  can 
rejoice. 


VI 

CHURCH  DISCIPLINE 

"  But  if  any  hath  caused  sorrow,  he  hath  caused  sorrow,  not  to  me, 
but  in  part  (that  I  press  not  too  heavily)  to  you  all.  Sufficient  to 
such  a  one  is  this  punishment  which  was  inflicted  by  the  many;  so 
that  contrariwise  ye  should  rather  forgive  him  and  comfort  him,  lest 
by  any  means  such  a  one  should  be  swallowed  up  with  his  overmuch 
sorrow.  Wherefore  I  beseech  you  to  confirm  your  love  toward  him. 
For  to  this  end  also  did  I  write,  that  I  might  know  the  proof  of  you, 
whether  ye  are  obedient  in  all  things.  But  to  whom  ye  forgive 
anything,  I  forgive  also :  for  what  I  also  have  forgiven,  if  I  have 
forgiven  an3^thing,  for  your  sakes  have  I  forgiven  it  in  the  person 
of  Christ ;  that  no  advantage  may  be  gained  over  us  by  Satan  :  for 
we  are  not  ignorant  of  his  devices." — 2  Cor.  ii.  5-1 1  (R.V.). 

THE  foregoing  paragraph  of  the  Epistle  has  said 
a  great  deal  about  sorrow,  the  sorrow  felt  by 
St.  Paul  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  sorrow  he  was 
reluctant  to  cause  the  Corinthians  on  the  other.  In 
the  passage  before  us  reference  is  evidently  made  to 
the  person  who  was  ultimately  responsible  for  all  this 
trouble.  If  much  in  it  is  indefinite  to  us,  and  only 
leaves  a  doubtful  impression,  it  was  clear  enough  for 
those  to  whom  it  was  originally  addressed;  and  that 
very  indefiniteness  has  its  lesson.  There  are  some 
things  to  which  it  is  sufficient,  and  more  than  sufficient, 
to  allude ;  least  said  is  best  said.  And  even  when 
plain-speaking  has  been  indispensable,  a  stage  arrives 
at  which  there  is  no  more  to  be  gained  by  it ;  if  the 
subject   must  be  referred  to,  the  utmost  generality  of 

72 


ii.5-ii.]  CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  73 

reference  is  best.  Here  the  Apostle  discusses  the  case 
of  a  person  who  had  done  something  extremely  bad  ; 
but  with  the  sinner's  repentance  assured,  it  is  both 
characteristic  and  worthy  of  him  that  neither  here 
nor  in  chap.  vii.  does  he  mention  the  name  either  of 
offender  or  offence.  It  is  perhaps  too  much  to  expect 
students  of  his  writings,  who  wish  to  trace  out  in  detail 
all  the  events  of  his  life,  and  to  give  the  utmost  possible 
definiteness  to  all  its  situations,  to  be  content  with  this 
obscurity ;  but  students  of  his  spirit — Christian  people 
reading  the  Bible  for  practical  profit — do  not  need  to 
perplex  themselves  as  to  this  penitent  man's  identity.  \ 
He  may  have  been  the  person  mentioned  in  i  Cor.  v.  / 
who  had  married  his  stepmother ;  he  may  have  been  ' 
some  one  who  had  been  guilty  of  a  personal  insult  to 
the  Apostle  :  the  main  point  is  that  he  was  a  sinner 
whom  the  discipline  of  the  Church  had  saved.  ^ 

The  Apostle  had  been  expressing  himself  about  his 
sorrow  with  great  vehemence,  and  he  is  careful  in  his 
very  first  words  to  make  it  plain  that  the  offence  which 
had  caused  such  sorrow  was  no  personal  matter.  It 
concerned  the  Church  as  well  as  him.  "  If  any  one 
hath  caused  sorrow,  he  hath  not  caused  sorrow  to  me, 
but  in  part  to  you  all."  To  say  more  than  this  would 
be  to  exaggerate  {iinlSapeZv)}  I'he  Church,  in  point 
of  fact,  had  not  been  moved  either  as  universally  or  as 


'  On  the  identity  of  the  person  referred  to,  see  Introduction,  p.  2  f. 

^  This  meaning  of  iiri^apeii',  taken  as  intransitive,  is  rather  vague, 
but  I  beHeve  substantially  correct.  If  the  word  is  to  be  taken  as 
virtually  transitive,  the  object  must  be  the  partisans  of  the  offender. 
It  would  "bear  hardly"  on  them,  to  assume  that  iliey  had  been 
grieved  by  what  Paul  considered  an  offence.  They  had  not  been 
grieved.  That  is  why  he  excludes  them  from  Trdtras  v/xas  by  d7rd 
fiipovi. 


74     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

profoundly  as  it  should  have  been  by  the  offence  of  this 
wicked  man.  The  penalty  imposed  upon  him,  whatever 
it  may  have  been,  had  not  been  imposed  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  but  only  by  a  majority ;  there  were  some  who 
sym.pathised  with  him,  and  would  have  been  less 
severe.-^  Still,  it  had  brought  conviction  of  his  sin 
to  the  offender;  he  could  not  brazen  it  out  against 
such  consenting  condemnation  as  there  was ;  he  was 
overwhelmed  with  penitential  grief  This  is  why  the 
Apostle  says,  "  Sufficient  to  such  a  one  is  this  punish- 
ment which  was  inflicted  by  the  majority."  It  has 
served  the  purpose  of  all  disciplinary  treatment;  and 
having  done  so,  must  now  be  superseded  by  an  opposite 
line  of  action.  *'  Contrariwise  ye  should  rather  forgive 
him  and  comfort  him,  lest  by  any  means  such  a  one 
should  be  swallowed  up  with  his  overmuch  sorrow." 
In  St.  Paul's  sentence  "  such  a  one  "  comes  last,  with  the 
emphasis  of  compassion  upon  it.  He  had  been  **  such 
a  one,"  to  begin  with,  as  it  was  a  pain  and  a  shame 
even  to  think  about ;  he  is  ''  such  a  one,"  now,  as  the 
angels  in  heaven  are  rejoicing  over;  "such  a  one" 
as  the  Apostle,  having  the  spirit  of  Him  who  received 
sinners,  regards  with  profoundest  pity  and  yearning; 
**  such  a  one "  as  the  Church  ought  to  meet  with 
pardoning  and  restoring  love,  lest  grief  sink  into 
despair,  and  the  sinner  cut  himself  off  from  hope. 
To  prevent  such  a  deplorable  result,  the  Corinthians 
are  by  some  formal  action  (Kvpcoaat:  cf  Gal.  iii.   15) 

'  This  suits  with  either  idea  as  to  the  identity  of  the  man.  (i)  If 
he  were  the  incestuous  person  of  I  Cor.  v.,  the  minority  would 
consist  of  those  who  abused  the  Christian  idea  of  libertj^,  and  were 
"puffed  up"  (I  Cor.  v.  2)  over  this  sin  as  an  illustration  of  it.  (2)  If 
he  were  one  who  had  personally  insulted  Paul,  the  minority  would 
probably  consist  of  the  Judaistic  opponents  of  the  Apostle. 


ii.5-ii.]  CHURCH  DISCWLINE  75 

to  forgive  him,  and  receive  him  again  as  a  brother; 
and  in  their  forgiveness  and  welcome  he  is  to  find  the 
pledge  of  the  great  love  of  God. 

This  whole  passage  is  of  interest  from  the  light  which 
it  throws  upon  the  discipline  of  the  Church  ;  or,  to  use 
less  technical  and  more  correct  language,  the  Christian 
treatment  of  the  erring. 

It  shows  us,  for  one  thing,  the  aim  of  all  discipline  : 
it  is,  in  the  last  resort,  the  restoration  of  the  fallen. 
The  Church  has,  of  course,  an  interest  of  its  own  to 
guard  ;  it  is  bound  to  protest  against  all  that  is  incon- 
sistent with  its  character ;  it  is  bound  to  expel  scandals. 
But  the  Church's  protest,  its  condemnation,  its  excom- 
munication even,  are  not  ends  in  themselves ;  they 
are  means  to  that  which  is  really  an  end  in  itself,  a 
priceless  good  which  justifies  every  extreme  of  moral 
severity,  the  winning  again  of  the  sinner  through 
repentance.  The  judgment  of  the  Church  is  the  instru- 
ment of  God's  love,  and  the  moment  it  is  accepted  in 
the  sinful  soul  it  begins  to  work  as  a  redemptive  force. 
The  humiliation  it  inflicts  is  that  which  God  exalts  ; 
the  sorrow,  that  which  He  comforts.  But  when  a 
scandal  comes  to  light  in  a  Christian  congregation — 
when  one  of  its  members  is  discovered  in  a  fault  gross, 
palpable,  and  offensive — what  is  the  significance  of  that 
movement  of  feeling  which  inevitably  takes  place  ? 
In  how  many  has  it  the  character  of  goodness  and  of 
severity,  of  condemnation  and  of  compassion,  of  love 
and  fear,  of  pity  and  shame,  the  only  character  that 
has  any  virtue  in  it  to  tell  for  the  sinner's  recovery  ? 
If  you  ask  nine  people  out  of  ten  what  a  scandal  is,  they 
will  tell  you  it  is  something  which  makes  talk  ;  and 
the  talk  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  will  be  malignant, 
affected,  more  interesting  to  the  talkers  than  any  story 


76     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

of  virtue  or  piety — scandal  itself,  in  short,  far  more 
truly  than  its  theme.  Does  an3^body  imagine  that 
gossip  is  one  of  the  forces  that  waken  conscience,  and 
work  for  the  redemption  of  our  fallen  brethren  ?  If 
this  is  all  we  can  do,  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  Chris- 
tian let  us  keep  silence.  Every  word  spoken  about  a 
brother's  sin,  that  is  not  prompted  by  a  Christian 
conscience,  that  does  not  vibrate  with  the  love  of  a 
Christian  heart,  is  itself  a  sin  against  the  mercy  and 
the  judgment  of  Christ. 

We  see  here  not  only  the  end  of  Church  discipline, 
but  the  force  of  which  it  disposes  for  the  attainment  of 
its  end.  That  force  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  the 
conscience  of  the  Christian  people  who  constitute  the 
Church  :  disciphne  is,  in  principle,  the  reaction  of  that 
force  against  all  immorality.  In  special  cases,  forms 
may  be  necessary  for  its  exercise,  and  in  the  forms  in 
which  it  is  exercised  variations  may  be  found  expedient, 
according  to  time,  place,  or  degree  of  moral  progress ; 
the  congregation  as  a  body,  or  a  representative  com- 
mittee of  it,  or  its  ordained  ministers,  may  be  its  most 
suitable  executors  ;  but  that  on  which  all  alike  have 
to  depend  for  making  their  proceedings  effective  to 
any  Christian  intent  is  the  vigour  of  Christian  con- 
science, and  the  intensity  of  Christian  love,  in  the 
community  as  a  whole.  Where  these  are  wanting, 
or  exist  only  in  an  insignificant  degree,  disciplinary 
proceedings  are  reduced  to  a  mere  form ;  they  are 
legal,  not  evangelical ;  and  to  be  legal  in  such  matters 
is  not  only  hypocritical,  but  insolent.  Instead  of 
rendering  a  real  Christian  service  to  offenders,  v/hich 
by  awakening  conscience  will  lead  to  penitence  and 
restoration,  discipline  under  such  conditions  is  equally 
cruel  and  unjust. 


ii.  S-ii.]  CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  77 

It  is  plain  also,  from  the  nature  of  the  force  which 
it  employs,  that  discipline  is  a  function  of  the  Church 
which  is  in  incessant  exercise,  and  is  not  called  into 
action  only  on  special  occasions.  To  limit  it  to  what 
are  technically  known  as  cases  of  discipline — the  formal 
treatment  of  offenders  by  a  Church  court,  or  by  any 
person  or  persons  acting  in  an  official  character — is  to 
ignore  its  real  nature,  and  to  give  its  exercise  in  these 
cases  a  significance  to  which  it  has  no  claim.  The 
offences  against  the  Christian  standard  which  can  be 
legally  impeached  even  in  Church  courts  are  not  one 
in  ten  thousand  of  those  against  which  the  Christian 
conscience  ought  energetically  to  protest ;  and  it  is  the 
vigour  with  which  the  ceaseless  reaction  against  evil  in 
every  shape  is  instinctively  maintained  which  measures 
the  effectiveness  of  all  formal  proceedings,  and  makes 
them  means  of  grace  to  the  guilty.  The  offiicals  of  a 
Church  may  deal  in  their  official  place  with  offences 
against  soberness,  purity,  or  honesty ;  they  are  bound 
to  deal  with  them,  whether  they  like  it  or  not ;  but 
their  success  will  depend  upon  the  completeness  with 
which  they,  and  those  whom  they  represent,  have 
renounced  not  only  the  vices  which  they  are  judging, 
but  all  that  is  out  of  keeping  with  the  mind  and  spirit 
of  Christ.  The  drunkard,  the  sensualist,  the  thief, 
know  perfectly  well  that  drunkenness,  sensuality,  and 
theft  are  not  the  only  sins  which  mar  the  soul.  They 
know  that  there  are  other  vices,  just  as  real  if  not  so 
glaring,  which  are  equally  fatal  to  the  life  of  Christ  in 
man,  and  as  completely  disqualify  men  for  acting  in 
Christ's  name.  They  are  conscious  that  it  is  not  a 
bona  fide  transaction  when  their  sins  are  impeached  by 
men  whose  consciences  endure  with  equanimity  the 
reign    of  meanness,   duplicity,   pride,    hypocrisy,    self- 


78     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

complacency.  They  are  aware  that  God  is  not  present 
where  these  are  dominant,  and  that  God's  power  to 
judge  and  save  can  never  come  through  such  channels. 
Hence  the  exercise  of  discipline  in  these  legal  forms 
is  often  resented,  and  often  ineffective ;  and  instead 
of  complaining  about  what  is  obviously  inevitable,  the 
one  thing  at  which  all  should  aim  who  wish  to  protect 
the  Church  from  scandals  is  to  cultivate  the  common 
conscience,  and  bring  it  to  such  a  degree  of  purity  and 
vigour,  that  its  spontaneous  resentment  of  evil  will 
enable  the  Church  practically  to  dispense  with  legal 
forms.  This  Christian  community  at  Corinth  had  a 
thousand  faults ;  in  many  points  we  are  tempted  to 
find  in  it  rather  a  warning  than  an  example ;  but  I 
think  we  may  take  this  as  a  signal  proof  that  it  was 
really  sound  at  heart :  its  condemnation  of  this  guilty 
man  fell  upon  his  conscience  as  the  sentence  of  God, 
\  and  brought  him  in  tears  to  the  feet  of  Christ.  No 
>  legal  proceedings  could  have  done  that  :  nothing  could 
have  done  it  but  a  real  and  passionate  sympathy  with 
the  holiness  and  the  love  of  Christ.  Such  sympathy 
is  the  one  subduing,  reconciling,  redeeming  power  in 
our  hands ;  and  Paul  might  well  rejoice,  after  all  his 
affliction  and  anguish  of  heart,  when  he  found  it  so 
unmistakably  at  work  in  Corinth.  Not  so  much  formal 
as  instinctive,  though  not  shrinking  on  occasion  from 
formal  proceedings ;  not  malignant,  yet  closing  itself 
inexorably  against  evil ;  not  indulgent  to  badness,  but 
with  goodness  like  Christ's,  waiting  to  be  gracious, — this 
Christian  virtue  really  holds  the  keys  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  and  opens  and  shuts  with  the  authority  of 
Christ  Himself.  We  need  it  in  all  our  Churches  to-day, 
as  much  as  it  was  needed  in  Corinth  ;  we  need  it  that 
special  acts  of  discipline  may  be  effective ;  we  need  it 


ii  5-11.]  CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  79 

still  more  that  they  may  be  unnecessary.  Pray  for  it 
as  for  a  gift  that  comprehends  every  other — the  power 
to  represent  Christ,  and  work  His  work,  in  the  recovery 
and  restoration  of  the  fallen. 

In  vv.  9-1 1,  the  same  subject  is  continued,  but  with 
a  slightly  different  aspect  exposed.  Paul  had  obviously 
taken  the  initiative  in  this  matter,  though  the  bulk  of 
the  Church,  at  his  prompting,  had  acted  in  a  right 
spirit.  Their  conduct  was  in  harmony  with  his  motive 
in  writing  to  them/  which  had  really  been  to  make 
proof  of  their  obedience  in  all  points.  But  he  has 
already  disclaimed  either  the  right  or  the  wish  to  lord 
it  over  them  in  their  liberty  as  believers  ;  and  here, 
again,  he  represents  himself  rather  as  following  them 
in  their  treatment  of  the  offender,  than  as  pointing  out 
the  way.  '*  Now  to  whom  ye  forgive  anything,  I  also 
forgive  " — so  great  is  my  confidence  in  you  :  ''for 
what  I  also  have  forgiven,  if  I  have  forgiven  any- 
thing, for  your  sakes  have  I  forgiven  it  in  the  presence 
of  Christ."  When  he  says  *'  if  I  have  forgiven  any- 
thing," he  does  not  mean  that  his  forgiveness  is 
dubious,  or  in  suspense  ;  what  he  does  is  to  deprecate 
the  thought  that  his  forgiveness  is  the  main  thing, 
or  that  he  had  been  the  person  principally  offended. 
When  he  says  "/or  your  sakes  have  I  forgiven  it," 
the  words  are  explained  by  what  follows  :  to  have 
refused  his  forgiveness  in  the  circumstances  would 
have  been  to  perpetuate  a  state  of  matters  which  could 
only  have  injured  the  Church.  When  he  adds  that 
his  forgiveness  is  bestowed  ''  in  the  presence  of 
Christ,"  he  gives  the  assurance  that  it  is  no  com- 
plaisance or    formality,   but  a   real  acceptance  of  the 

'  This  is  the  force  of  the  koI  before  (ypa\pa  in  ver.  9. 


8o      THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

offender  to  peace  and  friendship  again.^  And  we 
should  not  overlook  the  fact  that  in  this  association  of 
Christ,  of  the  Corinthians,  and  of  himself,  in  the  work 
of  forgiveness  and  restoration,  Paul  is  really  encom- 
passing a  desponding  soul  with  all  the  grace  of  earth 
and  heaven.  Surely  he  will  not  let  his  grief  become 
despair,  when  all  around  him  and  above  him  there  is 
a  present  and  convincing  witness  that,  though  God  is 
intolerant  of  sin,  He  is  the  refuge  of  the  penitent. 

The  gracious  and  conciliatory  tone  of  these  verses 
seems  to  me  worthy  of  special  admiration  ;  and  I  can 
only  express  my  astonishment  that  to  some  they  have 
appeared  insincere,  a  vain  attempt  to  cover  a  defeat 
with  the  semblance  of  victory,  a  surrender  to  the 
opposition  at  Corinth,  the  painfulness  of  which  is  ill- 
disguised  by  the  pretence  of  agreement  with  them. 
The  exposition  just  given  renders  the  refutation  of 
such  a  view  unnecessary.  We  ought  rather  to  regard 
with  reverence  and  affection  the  man  who  knew  how 
to  combine,  so  strikingly,  unflinching  principle  and 
the  deepest  tenderness  and  consideration  for  others  ; 
we  ought  to  propose  his  modesty,  his  sensitiveness  to 
the  feelings  even  of  opponents,  his  sympathy  with  those 
who  had  no  sympathy  with  him,  as  examples  for  our 
imitation.     Paul  had  been  deeply  moved  by  what  had 

'  In  spite  of  the  Vulgate,  which  has  in  persona  Christi;  of  Luther, 
who  gives  an  Christi  Statt ;  and  of  the  EngHsh  versions,  Authorised 
and  Revised,  which  both  give  "in  the  person  of  Christ"  (though  the 
R,V.  Y>'^is  presence  in  the  margin),  there  seems  no  room  to  doubt  that 
"in  the  presence  of  Christ  "  is  the  true  meaning.  The  same  words  in 
chap.  iv.  6  are  admittedly  different  in  import ;  and  in  the  only  passages 
where  ev  Trpoadjirii)  occurs  with  a  genitive,  it  means  "in  presence  of." 
These  are  Prov.  viii.  30,  where  eV  Trpoau^Trcf  avrov  is  =  VJQT' ;  and  Sir. 
xxxii.  6,  where  "Thou  shalt  not  appear  before  the  Lord  empty"  is  h  ir. 
Kvplov. 


ii.  5-II.]  CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  8i 

taken  place  at  Corinth,  possibly  he  had  been  deeply 
injured  ;  but  even  so  his  personal  interest  is  kept  in 
the  background ;  for  the  obedient  loyalty  which  he 
wishes  to  prove  is  not  so  much  his  interest  as  theirs 
to  whom  he  writes.  He  cares  only  for  others.  He 
cares  for  the  poor  soul  who  has  forfeited  his  place 
in  the  community  ;  he  cares  for  the  good  name  of  the 
Church  ;  he  cares  for  the  honour  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and 
he  exerts  all  his  power  with  these  interests  in  view. 
If  it  needs  rigour,  he  can  be  rigorous ;  if  it  needs 
passion,  he  can  be  passionate  ;  if  it  needs  consideration, 
graciousness,  a  conciliatory  temper,  a  willingness  to 
keep  out  of  sight,  he  can  be  depended  upon  for  all 
these  virtues.  If  they  were  only  affected,  Paul  would 
deserve  the  praise  of  a  great  diplomatist ;  but  it  is  far 
easier  to  believe  them  real,  and  see  in  them  the  signs 
of  a  great  minister  of  Christ. 

The  last  verse  puts  the  aim  of  his  proceedings  in 
another  light :  all  this,  he  says,  I  do,  "  that  no  advantage 
may  be  gained  over  us  by  Satan :  for  we  are  not 
ignorant  of  his  devices."  The  important  words  in  the 
last  clause  are  of  the  same  root ;  it  is  as  if  Paul  had 
said  :  **  Satan  is  very  knowing,  and  is  always  on  the  alert 
to  get  the  better  of  us ;  but  we  are  not  without  know- 
ledge of  his  knowing  ways."  It  was  the  Apostle's 
acquaintance  with  the  wiles  of  the  devil  which  made 
him  eager  to  see  the  restoration  of  the  penitent  sinner 
duly  carried  through.  This  implies  one  or  two 
practical  truths,  with  which,  by  way  of  application,  this 
exposition  may  close. 

(i)  A  scandal  in  the  Church  gives  the  devil  an 
opportunity.  When  one  who  has  named  the  name  of 
Jesus,  and  vowed  loyal  obedience  to  Him,  falls  into 
open  sin,  it  is  a  chance  offered  to  the  enemy  which  he 

6 


82     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

is  not  slow  to  improve.  He  uses  it  to  discredit  the 
very  name  of  Christ :  to  turn  that  which  ought  to  be 
to  the  world  the  symbol  of  the  purest  goodness  into 
a  synonym  of  hypocrisy.  Christ  has  committed  His 
honour,  if  not  His  character,  to  our  keeping ;  and  every 
lapse  into  vice  gives  Satan  an  advantage  over  Him. 

(2)  The  devil  finds  his  gain  in  the  incompetence  of 
the  Church  to  deal  with  evil  in  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 
It  is  a  fine  thing  for  him  if  he  can  drive  the  convicted 
sinner  to  despair,  and  persuade  him  that  there  is  no 
more  forgiveness  with  God.  It  is  a  fine  thing  if  he 
can  prompt  those  who  love  little,  because  they  know 
httle  of  God's  love,  to  show  themselves  rigid,  implacable, 
irreconcilable,  even  to  the  penitent.  If  he  can  deform 
the  likeness  of  Christ  into  a  morose  Pharisaism,  what 
an  incalculable  gain  it  is  1  If  the  disciples  of  Him 
who  received  sinners  look  askance  on  those  who  have 
lapsed,  and  chill  the  hope  of  restoration  with  cold 
suspicion  and  reserve,  there  will  be  joy  over  it,  not  in 
heaven,  but  in  hell.  And  not  only  this,  but  the  opposite 
is  a  device  of  the  devil,  of  which  we  ought  not  to  be 
ignorant.  There  is  hardly  a  sin  that  some  one  has 
not  an  interest  in  extenuating.  Even  the  incestuous 
person  in  Corinth  had  his  defenders :  there  were  some 
who  were  puffed  up,  and  gloried  in  what  he  had  done 
as  an  assertion  of  Christian  liberty.  The  devil  takes 
advantage  of  the  scandals  that  occur  in  the  Church  to 
bribe  and  debauch  men's  consciences ;  indulgent  words 
are  spoken,  which  are  not  the  voice  of  Christ's  awful 
mercy,  but  of  a  miserable  self-pity  ;  the  strongest  and 
holiest  thing  in  the  world,  the  redeeming  love  of  God, 
is  adulterated  and  even  confounded  with  the  weakest 
and  basest  thing,  the  bad  man's  immoral  forgiveness 
of  himself.     And  not  to  mention  anything  else  under 


ii.5-ii.]  CHURCH  DISCIPLINE  83 

this  head,  could  any  one  imagine  what  would  please 
and  suit  the  devil  better  than  the  absolutely  unfeeling 
but  extremely  interesting  gossip  which  resounds  over 
every  exposure  of  sin  ? 

(3)  But,  lastly,  the  devil  finds  his  advantage  in  the 
dissensions  of  Christians.  What  an  opportunity  he 
would  have  had  in  Corinth,  had  strained  relations 
continued  between  the  Apostle  and  the  Church  !  What 
opportunities  he  has  everywhere,  when  tempers  are  on 
edge,  and  every  movement  means  friction,  and  every 
proposal  rouses  suspicion  1  The  last  prayer  Christ 
prayed  for  His  Church  was  that  they  might  all  be  one : 
to  be  one  in  Him  is  the  final  security  against  the 
devices  of  Satan.  What  a  frightful  commentary  the 
history  of  the  Church  is  on  this  prayer  !  What  fright- 
ful illustrations  it  furnishes  of  the  devil's  gain  out  of 
the  saints'  quarrels  I  There  are  plenty  of  subjects,  of 
course,  even  in  Church  life,  on  which  we  may  naturally 
and  legitimately  differ ;  but  we  ought  to  know  better 
than  to  let  the  differences  enter  into  our  souls.  At 
bottom,  we  should  be  all  one  ;  it  is  giving  ourselves 
away  to  the  enemy,  if  we  do  not,  at  all  costs,  "  keep  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 


VII 

CHRISrS   CAPTIVE 

"Now  when  I  came  to  Troas  for  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  when 
a  door  was  opened  unto  me  in  the  Lord,  I  had  no  relief  for  my  spirit, 
because  I  found  not  Titus  my  brother-:  but  taking  my  leave  of  tlem, 
I  went  forth  into  Macedonia.  But  thanks  be  unto  God,  which  always 
leadeth  us  in  triumph  in  Christ,  and  maketh  manifest  through  us  the 
savour  of  His  knowledge  in  every  place.  For  we  are  a  sweet  savour 
of  Christ  unto  God,  in  them  that  are  being  saved,  and  in  them  that 
are  perishing ;  to  the  one  a  savour  from  death  unto  death ;  to  the 
other  a  savour  from  life  unto  life.  And  who  is  sufficient  for  these 
things?  For  we  are  not  as  the  many,  corrupting  the  Word  of  God  : 
but  as  of  sincerity,  but  as  of  God,  in  the  sight  of  God,  speak  we  in 
Christ."— 2  Cor.  ii.  12-17  (R.V.). 

IN  this  passage  the  Apostle  returns  from  what  is 
virtually,  if  not  formally,  a  digression,  to  the  narra- 
tive which  begins  in  chap.  i.  8  f ,  and  is  continued  in 
i.  1 5  f.  At  the  same  time  he  makes  a  transition  to  a 
new  subject,  really  though  not  very  explicitly  connected 
with  what  goes  before — namely,  his  independent  and 
divinely  granted  authority  as  an  apostle.  In  the  last 
verses  of  chap,  ii.,  and  in  chap.  iii.  1-4,  this  is  treated 
generally,  but  with  reference  in  particular  to  the  success 
of  his  ministry.  He  then  goes  on  to  contrast  the  older 
and  the  Christian  dispensation,  and  the  character  of 
their  respective  ministries,  and  terminates  the  section 
with  a  noble  statement  of  the  spirit  and  principles  with 
which  he  fulfilled  his  apostolic  calling  (chap.  iv.  1-6). 
Before  leaving  Ephesus,  Paul  had  apparently  made 
84 


ii.  12-17.]  CHRIST'S  CAPTIVE  85 

an  appointment  to  meet  Titus,  on  his  return  from 
Corinth,  at  Troas.  He  went  thither  himself  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  and  found  an  excellent  opportunity  for 
doing  so  ;  but  the  non-arrival  of  his  brother  kept  him 
in  such  a  state  of  unrest  ^  that  he  was  unable  to  make 
that  use  of  it  which  he  would  otherwise  have  done. 
This  seems  a  singular  confession,  but  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  it  was  made  with  a  bad  con- 
science. Paul  was  probably  grieved  that  he  had  not 
the  heart  to  go  in  at  the  door  which  had  been  opened 
to  him  in  the  Lord,  but  he  did  not  feel  guilty.  It  was 
not  selfishness  which  made  him  turn  away,  but  the 
anxiety  of  a  true  pastor  about  other  souls  which  God 
had  committed  to  his  care.  '*  I  had  no  relief /or  my 
spirit,'^  he  says  ;  and  the  spirit,  in  his  language,  even 
though  it  be  a  constituent  of  man's  nature,  is  that  in 
him  which  is  akin  to  the  divine,  and  receptive  of  it. 
That  very  element  in  the  Apostle,  in  virtue  of  which 
he  could  act  for  God  at  all,  was  already  preoccupied, 
and  though  the  people  were  there,  ready  to  be  evan- 
gelised, it  was  beyond  his  power  to  evangelise  them. 
His  spirit  was  absorbed  and  possessed  by  hopes  and 
fears  and  prayers  for  the  Corinthians ;  and  as  the 
human  spirit,  even  when  in  contact  with  the  divine, 
is  finite,  and  only  capable  of  so  much  and  no  more, 
he  was  obliged  to  let  slip  an  occasion  which  he  would 
otherwise  have  gladly  seized.  He  probably  felt  with 
all  missionaries  that  it  is  as  important  to  secure  as  to 
win  converts ;  and  if  the  Corinthians  were  capable  of 
reflection,  they  might  reflect  with  shame  on  the  loss 
which  their  sin  had  entailed  on  the  people  of  Troas. 

•  The  perfect  iffxnuo-  seems  at  first  sight  out  of  place,  but  it  is  more 
expressive  than  the  aorist.  It  suggests  the  coutinuous  expectation  of 
relief,  which  was  always  anew  disappointed. 


86      THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

The  disorders  of  their  wilful  community  had  engrossed 
the  Apostle's  spirit,  and  robbed  their  fellow-men  across 
the  sea  of  an  apostolic  ministry.  They  could  not  but 
feel  how  genuine  was  the  Apostle's  love,  when  he  had 
made  such  a  sacrifice  to  it ;  but  such  a  sacrifice  ought 
never  to  have  been  required. 

When  Paul  could  bear  the  suspense  no  longer,  he 
said  good-bye  to  the  people  of  Troas,  crossed  the 
Thracian  Sea,  and  advanced  into  Macedonia  to  meet 
Titus.  He  did  meet  him,  and  heard  from  him  a  full 
report  of  the  state  of  matters  at  Corinth  (chap.  vii.  5  ff.)  ; 
but  here  he  does  not  take  time  to  say  so.  He  breaks 
out  into  a  jubilant  thanksgiving,  occasioned  primarily 
no  doubt  by  the  joyful  tidings  he  had  just  received, 
but  widening  characteristically,  and  instantaneously,  to 
cover  all  his  apostolic  work.  It  is  as  though  he  felt 
God's  goodness  to  him  to  be  all  of  a  piece,  and  could 
not  be  sensitive  to  it  in  any  particular  instance  without 
having  the  consciousness  rise  within  him  that  he  Hved 
and  moved  and  had  his  being  in  it.  ''  Now  to  God  be 
thanks,  who  always  leadeth  us  in  triumph  in  Christ." 

The  peculiar  and  difficult  word  in  this  thanksgiving 
is  Opiai-ipevovTi.  The  sense  which  first  strikes  one 
as  suitable  is  that  which  is  given  in  the  Authorised 
Version  :  ''  God  which  always  caiiseth  us  to  triumph^ 
Practically  Paul  had  been  engaged  in  a  conflict  with 
the  Corinthians,  and  for  a  time  it  had  seemed  not 
improbable  that  he  might  be  beaten ;  but  God  had 
caused  him  to  triumph  in  Christ — that  is,  acting  in 
Christ's  interests,  in  matters  in  which  Christ's  name 
and  honour  were  at  stake,  the  victory  (as  always)  had 
remained  with  him ;  and  for  this  he  thanks  God. 
This  interpretation  is  still  maintained  by  so  excellent 
a  scholar  as  Schmiedel,  and  the  use  of  Opia/Jb^evetv  in 


ii.  12-17.]  CHRIST'S  CAPTIVE  87 

this  transitive   sense   is   defended   by   the    analogy   of 
fiaOrjreveLv  in  Matt,  xxviii.  19. 

But  appropriate  as  this  interpretation  is,  there  is 
one  apparently  fatal  objection  to  it.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  dpia/ju^eveiv  is  here  used  transitively,  but 
we  have  not  to  guess,  by  analogy,  what  it  must  mean 
when  so  used ;  there  are  other  examples  which  fix 
this  unambiguously.  One  is  found  elsewhere  in  St. 
Paul  himself  (Col.  ii.  15),  where  6piafMl3evaa<;  avrov^ 
indubitably  means  "  having  triumphed  over  them."  In 
accordance  with  this,  which  is  only  one  out  of  many 
instances,^  the  Revisers  have  displaced  the  old  rendering 
here,  and  substituted  for  it,  '*  Thanks  be  to  God,  which 
always  Icadeth  us  in  triiunphy  The  triumph  here  is 
God's,  not  the  Apostle's  ;  Paul  is  not  the  soldier  who 
wins  the  battle,  and  shouts  for  victory,  as  he  marches 
in  the  triumphal  procession  ;  he  is  the  captive  who  is 
led  in  the  Conqueror's  train,  and  in  whom  men  see 
the  trophy  of  the  Conqueror's  power.  When  he  says 
that  God  always  leads  him  in  triumph  in  Christ,  the 
meaning  is  not  perfectly  obvious.  He  may  intend  to 
define,  as  it  were,  the  area  over  which  God's  victory 
extends.  In  everything  which  is  covered  by  the  name 
and  authority  of  Christ,  God  triumphantly  asserts  His 
power  over  the  Apostle.  Or,  again,  the  words  may 
signify  that  it  is  through  Christ  that  God's  victorious 
power  is  put  forth.  These  two  meanings,  of  course, 
are  not  inconsistent ;   and  practically  they  coincide. 

It  cannot  be  denied,  I  think,  if  this  is  taken  quite 
rigorously,  that  there  is  a  certain  air  of  irrelevance 
about  it.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  to  the  purpose  of 
the  passage    to    say  that  God  always    triumphs    over 

'  See  Grimm's  Lexicon  s.v.,  or  Lightfoot  on  Col,  ii.  15, 


88      THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

Paul  and  those  for  whom  He  speaks,  or  even  that  He 
always  leads  them  in  triumph.  It  is  this  feeling, 
indeed,  which  mainly  influences  those  who  keep  to 
the  rendering  of  the  Authorised  Version,  and  regard 
Paul  as  the  victor.  But  the  meaning  of  dpia/uL^evovrt, 
is  not  really  open  to  doubt,  and  the  semblance  of 
irrelevance  disappears  if  we  remember  that  we  are 
dealing  with  a  figure,  and  a  figure  which  the  Apostle 
himself  does  not  press.  Of  course  in  an  ordinary 
triumph,  such  as  the  triumph  of  Claudius  over  Carac- 
tacus,  of  which  St.  Paul  may  easily  have  heard,  the 
captives  had  no  share  in  the  victory ;  it  was  not  only 
a  victory  over  them,  but  a  victory  against  them.  But 
when  God  wins  a  victory  over  man,  and  leads  his 
captive  in  triumph,  the  captive  too  has  an  interest  in 
what  happens  ;  it  is  the  beginning  of  all  triumphs,  in 
any  true  sense,  for  him.  If  we  apply  this  to  the  case 
before  us,  we  shall  see  that  the  true  meaning  is  not 
irrelevant.  Paul  had  once  been  the  enemy  of  God 
in  Christ ;  he  had  fought  against  Him  in  his  own 
soul,  and  in  the  Church  which  he  persecuted  and 
wasted.  The  battle  had  been  long  and  strong;  but 
not  far  from  Damascus  it  had  terminated  in  a  decisive 
victory  for  God.  There  the  mighty  man  fell,  and  the 
weapons  of  his  warfare  perished.  His  pride,  his  self- 
righteousness,  his  sense  of  superiority  to  others  and 
of  competence  to  attain  to  the  righteousness  of  God, 
collapsed  for  ever,  and  he  rose  from  the  earth  to  be 
the  slave  of  Jesus  Christ.  That  was  the  beginning 
of  God's  triumph  over  him ;  from  that  hour  God  led 
him  in  triumph  in  Christ.  But  it  was  the  beginning 
also  of  all  that  made  the  Apostle's  life  itself  a  triumph, 
not  a  career  of  hopeless  internal  strife,  such  as  it  had 
been,  but  of  unbroken  Christian  victory.     This,  indeed, 


li.  12-17.]  CHRIST'S  CAPTIVE  89 

is  not  involved  i'n  tlic  mere  word  Opiafx^evovri,  but  it 
is  the  real  thing  which  was  present  to  the  Apostle's 
mind  when  he  used  the  word.  When  we  recognise 
this,  we  see  that  the  charge  of  irrelevance  does  not 
really  apply  ;  while  nothing  could  be  more  character- 
istic of  the  Apostle  than  to  hide  himself  and  his  success 
in  this  way  behind  God's  triumph  over  him  and  through 
him. 

Further,  the  true  meaning  of  the  word,  and  the ' 
true  connexion  of  ideas  just  explained,  remind  us  that 
the  only  triumphs  we  can  ever  have,  deserving  the 
name,  must  begin  with  God's  triumph  over  us.  This 
is  the  one  possible  source  of  joy  untroubled.  We  1 
may  be  as  selfish  as  we  please,  and  as  successful  in 
our  selfishness ;  we  may  distance  all  our  rivals  in  the 
race  for  the  world's  prizes  ;  we  may  appropriate  and 
engross  pleasure,  wealth,  knowledge,  influence ;  and 
after  all  there  will  be  one  thing  we  must  do  without — 
the  power  and  the  happiness  of  thanking  God.  No 
one  will  ever  be  able  to  thank  God  because  he  has 
succeeded  in  pleasing  himself,  be  the  mode  of  his 
self-pleasing  as  respectable  as  you  will  ;  and  he  who 
has  not  thanked  God  with  a  whole  heart,  without 
misgiving  and  without  reserve,  does  not  know  what 
joy  is.  Such  thanksgiving  and  its  joy  have  one 
condition :  they  rise  up  spontaneously  in  the  soul 
when  it  allows  God  to  triumph  over  it.  When  God 
appears  to  us  in  Jesus  Christ,  when  in  the  omnipotence 
of  His  love  and  purity  and  truth  He  makes  war  upon 
our  pride  and  falsehood  and  lusts,  and  prevails  against 
them,  and  brings  us  low,  then  we  are  admitted  to  the 
secret  of  this  apparently  perplexing  passage  ;  we  know . 
how  natural  it  is  to  cry,  "  Thanks  be  unto  God  who  in 
His  victory  over  us  giveth  us   the  victory  !     Thanks  ^ 


90     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

be  to  Him  who  always  leadeth  us  in  triumph  1  "  It 
is  out  of  an  experience  Hke  this  that  Paul  speaks ;  it 
is  the  key  to  his  whole  life,  and  it  has  been  illustrated 
anew  by  what  has  just  happened  at  Corinth. 

But  to  return  to  the  Epistle.  God  is  described  by  the 
Apostle  not  only  as  triumphing  over  them  (i.e.j  himself 
and  his  colleagues)  in  Christ,  but  as  making  manifest 
through  them  the  savour  of  His  knowledge  in  every 
place.  It  has  been  questioned  whether  *'  His"  knowledge 
is  the  knowledge  of  God  or  of  Christ.  Grammatically, 
the  question  can  hardly  be  answered ;  but,  as  we  see 
from  chap.  iv.  6,  the  two  things  which  it  proposes  to 
distinguish  are  really  one ;  what  is  manifested  in  the 
apostolic  ministry  is  the  knowledge  of  God  as  He  is 
revealed  in  Christ.  But  why  does  Paul  use  the  expres- 
sion ^^the  savour  of  His  knowledge"?  It  was  suggested 
probably  by  the  figure  of  the  triumph,  which  was 
present  to  his  mind  in  all  the  detail  of  its  circumstances. 
Incense  smoked  on  every  altar  as  the  victor  passed 
through  the  streets  of  Rome ;  the  fragrant  steam  floated 
over  the  procession,  a  silent  proclamation  of  victory 
and  joy.  But  Paul  would  not  have  appropriated  this 
feature  of  the  triumph,  and  applied  it  to  his  ministry, 
unless  he  had  felt  that  there  was  a  real  point  of  com- 
parison, that  the  knowledge  of  Christ  which  he  diffused 
among  men,  wherever  he  went,  was  in  very  truth  a 
fragrant  thing. ^  True,  he  was  not  a  free  man ;  he  had 
been  subdued  by  God,  and  made  the  slave  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  as  the  Lord  of  glory  went  forth  conquering  and 
to  conquer,  over  Syria  and  Asia  and  Macedonia  and 
Greece,  He  led  him  as  a  captive  in  the  triumphal  march 


'  In  TT)v  6<TiXT]v  TTjs  yvdoaem,  yvuaecjs  is  gen.  of  apposition  :  the  oct/xt] 
and  the  yvQcris  are  one. 


ii.  12-17.]  CHRIST'S  CAPTIVE  91 

of  His  grace ;  he  was  the  trophy  of  Christ's  victory ; 
every  one  who  saw  him  saw  that  necessity  was  laid 
upon  Him ;  but  what  a  gracious  necessity  it  was  I 
"  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us."  The  captives 
who  were  dragged  in  chains  behind  a  Roman  chariot 
also  made  manifest  the  knowledge  of  their  conqueror ; 
they  declared  to  all  the  spectators  his  power  and  his 
pitilessness ;  there  was  nothing  in  that  knowledge  to 
suggest  the  idea  of  a  fragrance  like  incense.  But  as 
Paul  moved  through  the  world,  all  who  had  eyes  to 
see  saw  in  him  not  only  the  power  but  the  sweet- 
ness of  God's  redeeming  love.  The  mighty  Victor 
made  manifest  through  Him,  not  only  His  might,  but 
His  charm,  not  only  His  greatness,  but  His  grace.  It 
was  a  good  thing,  men  felt,  to  be  subdued  and  led  in 
triumph  like  Paul ;  it  was  to  move  in  an  atmosphere 
perfumed  by  the  love  of  Christ,  as  the  air  around 
the  Roman  triumph  was  perfumed  with  incense.  The 
Apostle  is  so  sensible  of  this  that  he  weaves  it  into  his 
sentence  as  an  indispensable  part  of  his  thought ;  it : 
is  not  merely  the  knowledge  of  God  which  is  made 
manifest  through  him  as  he  is  led  in  triumph,  but  that 
knowledge  as  a  fragrant,  gracious  thing,  speaking  to 
every  one  of  victory  and  goodness  and  joy. 

The  very  word  "  savour,"  in  connexion  with  the 
"  knowledge  "  of  God  in  Christ,  is  full  of  meaning.  It 
has  its  most  direct  application,  of  course,  to  preaching. 
When  we  proclaim  the  Gospel,  do  we  always  succeed 
in  manifesting  it  as  a  savour  ?  Or  is  not  the  savour — 
the  sweetness,  the  winsomeness,  the  charm  and  attrac- 
tiveness of  it — the  very  thing  that  is  most  easily  left 
out  ?  Do  we  not  catch  it  sometimes  in  the  words  of 
others,  and  wonder  that  it  eludes  our  own  ?  We  miss 
what  is  most  characteristic  in  the  knowledge  of  God  if 


92     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

we  miss  this.  We  leave  out  that  very  element  in  the 
Evangel  which  makes  it  evangelic,  and  gives  it  its 
power  to  subdue  and  enchain  the  souls  of  men.  But 
it  is  not  to  preachers  only  that  the  word  "  savour  " 
speaks ;  it  is  of  the  widest  possible  application.  Where- 
(  ever  Christ  is  leading  a  single  soul  in  triumph,  the 
fragrance  of  the  Gospel  should  go  forth ;  rather,  it  does 
go  forth,  in  proportion  as  His  triumph  is  complete. 
There  is  sure  to  be  that  in  the  life  which  will  reveal 
the  graciousness  as  well  as  the  omnipotence  of  the 
Saviour.  And  it  is  this  virtue  which  God  uses  as  His 
main  witness,  as  His  chief  instrument,  to  evangelise  the 
world.  In  every  relation  of  life  it  should  tell.  Nothing 
is  so  insuppressible,  nothing  so  pervasive,  as  a 
fragrance.  The  lowliest  life  which  Christ  is  really 
leading  in  triumph  will  speak  infallibly  and  persuasively 
for  Him.  In  a  Christian  brother  or  sister,  brothers 
and  sisters  will  find  a  new  strength  and  tenderness, 
something  that  goes  deeper  than  natural  affection,  and 
can  stand  severer  shocks ;  they  will  catch  the  fragrance 
which  declares  that  the  Lord  in  His  triumphant  grace 
is  there.  And  so  in  all  situations,  or,  as  the  Apostle 
has  it,  *'in  every  place."  And  if  we  are  conscious  that 
we  fail  in  this  matter,  and  that  the  fragrance  of  the 
knowledge  of  Christ  is  something  to  which  our  life 
gives  no  testimony,  let  us  be  sure  that  the  explanation 
of  it  is  to  be  found  in  self-will.  There  is  something  in 
us  which  has  not  yet  made  complete  surrender  to  Him, 
and  not  till  He  leads  us  unresistingly  in  triumph  will 
the  sweet  savour  go  forth. 

At  this  point  the  Apostle's  thought  is  arrested  by 
the  issues  of  his  ministry,  though  he  carries  the  figure 
of  the  fragrance,  with  a  little  pressure,  through  to  the 
end.     In   God's  sight,   he   says,   or  so   far  as   God  is 


ii.  12-17.]  CHRIST'S   CAPTIVE  93 

concerned,  we  are  a  sweet  savour  of  Christ,  a  perfume 
redolent  of  Christ,  in  which  He  cannot  but  take 
pleasure.  In  other  words,  Christ  proclaimed  in  the 
Gospel,  and  the  ministries  and  lives  which  proclaim 
Him,  are  always  a  joy  to  God.  They  are  a  joy  to  Him, 
whatever  men  may  think  of  them,  alike  in  them  that 
arc  being  saved  and  in  them  that  are  perishing.  To 
those  w^ho  are  being  saved,  they  are  a  savour  *'  from 
life  to  life "  ;  to  those  who  are  perishing,  a  savour 
"from  death  to  death."  Here,  as  everywhere,  St.  Paul 
contemplates  these  exclusive  opposites  as  the  sole 
issues  of  man's  life,  and  of  the  Gospel  ministry.  He 
makes  no  attempt  to  subordinate  one  to  the  other,  no 
suggestion  that  the  way  of  death  may  ultimately  lead 
to  life,  much  less  that  it  must  do  so.  The  whole 
solemnity  of  the  situation,  which  is  faced  in  the  cry 
''  And  who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?  "  depends  on 
the  finality  of  the  contrast  between  life  and  death. 
These  are  the  goals  set  before  men,  and  those  who  are 
being  saved  and  those  who  are  perishing  are  respectively 
on  their  way  to  one  or  the  other.  Who  is  sufficient 
for  the  calling  of  the  Gospel  ministry,  when  such  are 
the  alternatives  involved  in  it  ?  Who  is  sufficient,  in 
love,  in  wisdom,  in  humility,  in  awful  earnestness,  for 
the  duties  of  a  calling  the  issues  of  which  are  life  or 
death  for  ever  ? 

There  is  considerable  difficulty  in  the  sixteenth  verse, 
partly  dogmatic,  partly  textual.  Commentators  so 
opposite  in  their  bias  as  Chrysostom  and  Calvin  have 
pondered  and  remarked  upon  the  opposite  effects  here 
ascribed  to  the  Gospel.  It  is  easy  to  find  analogies  to 
these  in  nature.  The  same  heat  which  hardens  clay 
melts  iron.  The  same  sunlight  which  gladdens  the 
healthy   eye    tortures    that    which   is    diseased.      The 


94     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

same    honey  which    is    sweet    to    the  sound  palate   is 
nauseous  to  the  sick  ;  and  so  on.     But  such  analogies 
do  not  explain  anything,  and  one  can  hardly  see  what 
is   meant    by   calling   them   illustrations.      It  remains 
finally  inexplicable  that  the  Gospel,  which  appeals  to 
some  with  winning   irresistible  power,  subduing  and 
leading  them    in    triumph,  should   excite    in   others   a 
passion  of  antipathy  which  nothing  else  could  provoke. 
This   remains    inexplicable,    because    it    is    irrational. 
Nothing  that  can  be  pointed  to  in  the  universe  is  the 
least  like  a  bad  heart  closing  itself  against  the  love  of 
Christ,   like  a  bad  man's  will  stiffening  into  absolute 
rigidity  against  the  will  of  God.     The  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  may  be  the  occasion  of  such  awful  results,  but 
it  is  not  their  cause.     The  God  whom  it  proclaims  is 
the  God  of  grace  ;  it  is  never  His  will  that  any  should 
perish — always  that  all  should  be  saved.     But  He  can 
save  only  by   subduing;  His   grace  must  exercise   a 
sovereign  power  in  us,   which  through  righteousness 
will  lead  to  Hfe  everlasting  (Rom.  v.  21).     And  when 
this  exercise  of  power  is  resisted,  when  we  match  our 
self-will  against  the  gracious  saving  will  of  God,  our 
pride,  our  passions,  our  mere  sloth,  against  the  soul- 
constraining  love  of  Christ;  when  we  prevail  in  the 
war  which  God's  mercy  wages  with  our  wickedness, — 
then  the  Gospel  itself  may  be  said  to  have  ministered 
to  our  ruin  ;  it  was  ordained  to  life,  and  we  have  made 
it  a  sentence  of  death.     Yet  even  so,  it  is  the  joy  and 
glory  of  God  ;  it  is  a  sweet  savour  to  Him,  fragrant  of 
Christ  and  His  love. 

The  textual  difficulty  is  in  the  words  ek  Oavdrov  eU 
Odvarov,  and  Ik  ^cotj^  el?  ^corjv.  These  words  are 
rendered  in  the  Revised  Version  ^^  from  death  to  death," 
and  ^^from  life  to  life."    The  Authorised  Version,  follow- 


ii.  12-17.]  CHRIST'S  CAPTIVE  95 

ing  the  Tcxtus  Rcccptus,  which  omits  eV  in  both  clauses, 
renders  "a  savour  0/ death  unto  death/'  and  "o/hfe 
unto  Hfe."  In  spite  of  the  inferior  MS.  support,  the 
Texitts  Rcccptus  is  preferred  by  many  modern  scholars — 
e.g.,  Heinrici,  Schmiedel,  and  Hofmann.  They  find  it 
impossible  to  give  any  precise  interpretation  to  the 
better  attested  reading,  and  an  examination  of  any 
exposition  which  accepts  it  goes  far  to  justify  them. 
Thus  Professor  Beet  comments  :  ^^  From  death  for  death 
(comp.  Rom.  i.  17):  a  scent  proceeding  /row,  and 
thus  revealing  the  presence  of^  death ;  and,  like  malaria 
from  a  putrefying  corpse,  causing  death.  Paul's  labours 
among  some  men  revealed  the  eternal  death  which  day 
by  day  cast  an  ever-deepening  shadow  upon  them 
[this  answers  to  octimt]  eic  davdrov]  ;  and  by  arousing 
in  them  increased  opposition  to  God,  promoted  the 
spiritual  mortification  which  had  already  begun  "  [this 
answers  to  ek  Odvarov].  Surely  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
nobody  in  Corinth  could  ever  have  guessed  this  from  the 
words.  Yet  this  is  a  favourable  specimen  of  the  inter- 
pretations given.  If  it  were  possible  to  take  Ik  OavuTov 
eh  Odvarov,  and  e/c  fo)?)?  et?  ^oijjv,  as  Baur  took  eV 
TTLo-recof;  ek  iria-rLv  in  Rom.  i.  17,  that  would  be  the 
simplest  way  out  of  the  difficulty,  and  quite  satisfactory. 
What  the  Apostle  said  would  then  be  this :  that  the 
Gospel  which  he  preached,  ever  good  as  it  was  to  God, 
had  the  most  opposite  characters  and  effects  among  men, 
— in  some  it  was  death  from  beginning  to  end,  absolutely 
and  unmitigatedly  deadly  in  its  nature  and  workings ; 
in  others,  again,  it  was  life  from  beginning  to  end — life 
was  the  uniform  sign  of  its  presence,  and  its  invariable 
issue.  This  also  is  the  meaning  which  we  get  by 
omitting  eV :  the  genitives  fo)^?  and  Oavdrov  are  then 
adjectival, — a  vital  fragrance,  with  life  as  its  element 


96      THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

and  end ;  a  fatal  fragrance,  the  end  of  which  is 
death.  This  has  the  advantage  of  being  the  meaning 
which  occurs  to  an  ordinary  reader ;  and  if  the  critically 
approved  text,  with  the  repeated  eV,  cannot  bear  this 
interpretation,  I  think  there  is  a  fair  case  for  defending 
the  received  text  on  exegetical  grounds.  Certainly 
nothing  but  the  broad  impression  of  the  received  text 
will  ever  enter  the  general  mind. 

The  question  that  rises  to  the  Apostle's  lips  as  he 
confronts  the  solemn  situation  created  by  the  Gospel 
is  not  directly  answered.  *'  Who  is  sufficient  for  these 
things  ?  Who  ?  I  say.  For  we  are  not  as  the  many,^ 
who  corrupt  the  Word  of  God  :  but  as  of  sincerity,  but 
as  of  God,  in  the  sight  of  God,  we  speak  in  Christ." 
Paul  is  conscious  as  he  writes  that  his  awful  sense  of 
responsibility  as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel  is  not  shared 
by  all  who  exercise  the  same  vocation.  To  be  the 
bearer  and  the  representative  of  a  power  with  issues 
so  tremendous  ought  surely  to  annihilate  every  thought 
of  self;  to  let  personal  interest  intrude  is  to  declare 
oneself  faithless  and  unworthy.  We  are  startled  to 
hear  from  Paul's  lips  what  at  first  sight  seems  to  be  a 
charge  of  just  such  base  self-seeking  laid  against  the 
majority  of  preachers.  "We  are  not  as  the  many, 
corrupting  the  Word  of  God."  The  expressive  word 
rendered  here  *'  corrupting  "  has  the  idea  of  self-interest, 
and   especially  of  petty  gain,  at  its  basis.      It  means 

*  "The  many"  {oi  iroWol)  seems  to  be  the  true  reading.  "The 
rest"  {ol  Xoiiroi)  would  be  stronger  still  in  its  condemnation.  But 
probabl}^  Paul  is  not  thinking  of  the  Church  in  general,  but  of  the 
teachers  as  a  body  who  crossed  and  thwarted  him  in  his  chosen  field. 
The  transition  which  is  immediatelj^  made  to  the  case  of  his  opponents 
(tij/^s,  iii.  l),  and  to  the  comparison  of  the  old  and  new  covenants, 
suggests  that  his  Judaistic  adversaries  in  Corinth  (see  chap,  xi.)  are 
in  view. 


ii.  12-17.]  CHRIST'S  CAPTIVE  97 

literally  to  sell  in  small  quantities,  to  retail  for  profit. 
But  it  was  specially  applied  to  tavern-keeping,  and 
extended  to  cover  all  the  devices  by  which  the  wine- 
sellers  in  ancient  times  deceived  their  customers. 
Then  it  was  used  figuratively,  as  here ;  and  Lucian, 
e.g.f  speaks  of  philosophers  as  selling  the  sciences,  and 
in  most  cases  (ol  ttoWol:  a  curious  parallel  to  St. 
Paul),  like  tavern-keepers,  "  blending,  adulterating,  and 
giving  bad  measure."  It  is  plain  that  there  are  two 
separable  ideas  here.  One  is  that  of  men  qualifying 
the  Gospel,  infiltrating  their  own  ideas  into  the  Word 
of  God,  tempering  its  severity,  or  perhaps  its  good- 
ness, veiling  its  inexorableness,  dealing  in  compromise. 
The  other  is  that  all  such  proceedings  are  faithless 
and  dishonest,  because  some  private  interest  underlies 
them.  It  need  not  be  avarice,  though  it  is  as  likely 
to  be  this  as  anything  else.  A  man  corrupts  the  Word 
of  God,  makes  it  the  stock-in-trade  of  a  paltry  business 
of  his  own,  in  many  other  ways  than  by  subordinating 
it  to  the  need  of  a  livelihood.  When  he  exercises  his 
calling  as  a  minister  for  the  gratification  of  his  vanity, 
he  does  so.  When  he  preaches  not  that  awful  message 
in  which  life  and  death  are  bound  up,  but  himself,  his 
cleverness,  his  learning,  his  humour,  his  fine  voice  even 
or  fine  gestures,  he  does  so.  He  makes  the  Word 
minister  to  him,  instead  of  being  a  minister  of  the 
Word ;  and  that  is  the  essence  of  the  sin.  It  is  the 
same  if  ambition  be  his  motive,  if  he  preaches  to  win 
disciples  to  himself,  to  gain  an  ascendency  over  souls, 
to  become  the  head  of  a  party  which  will  bear  the 
impress  of  his  mind.  There  was  something  of  this 
at  Corinth;  and  not  only  there,  but  wherever  it  is 
found,  such  a  spirit  and  such  interests  will  change  the 
character  of  the  Gospel.     It  will  not  be  preserved  in 

7 


98     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

that  integrity,  in  that  simple,  uncompromising,  absolute 
character  which  it  has  as  revealed  in  Christ.  Have 
another  interest  in  it  than  that  of  God,  and  that  interest 
will  inevitably  colour  it.  You  will  make  it  what  it  was 
not,  and  the  virtue  will  depart  from  it. 

In  contrast  with  all  such  dishonest  ministers,  the 
Apostle  represents  himself  and  his  friends  speaking 
'*as  of  sincerity."  They  have  no  mixture  of  motives 
in  their  work  as  evangelists ;  they  have  indeed  no 
independent  motives  at  all :  God  is  leading  them  in 
triumph,  and  proclaiming  His  grace  through  them.  It 
is  He  who  prompts  every  word  (co?  eic  ©eov).  Yet  their 
responsibility  and  their  freedom  are  intact.  They  feel 
themselves  in  His  presence  as  they  speak,  and  in  that 
presence  they  speak  "  in  Christ."  "  In  Christ "  is  the 
Apostle's  mark.  Not  in  himself  apart  from  Christ, 
where  any  mixture  of  motives,  any  process  of  adultera- 
tion, would  have  been  possible,  but  only  in  that  union 
with  Christ  which  was  the  very  life  of  his  life,  did  he 
carry  on  his  evangelistic  work.  This  was  his  final 
security,  and  it  is  still  the  only  security,  that  the 
Gospel  can  have  fair  play  in  the  world. 


VI 11 

LIVING  EPISTLES 

*'  Are  we  beginning  again  to  commend  ourselves  ?  or  need  we,  as 
do  some,  epistles  of  commendation  to  you  or  from  you  ?  Ye  are  our 
epistle,  written  in  our  hearts,  known  and  read  of  all  men ;  being  made 
manifest  that  ye  are  an  epistle  of  Christ,  ministered  by  us,  written  not 
with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  ;  not  in  tables  of  stone, 
but  in  tables  that  are  hearts  of  llesh." — 2  Cor.  iii.  1-3  (R.V.). 

ARE  we  beginning  again  to  commend  ourselves  ?  " 
Paul  does  not  mean  by  these  words  to  admit  that 
he  had  been  commending  himself  before  :  he  means 
that  he  has  been  accused  already  of  doing  so,  and  that 
there  are  those  at  Corinth  who,  when  they  hear  such 
passages  of  this  letter  as  that  which  has  just  preceded, 
will  be  ready  to  repeat  the  accusation.  In  the  First 
Epistle  he  had  found  it  necessary  to  vindicate  his 
apostolic  authority,  and  especially  his  interest  in  the 
Corinthian  Church  as  its  spiritual  father  (i  Cor.  ix.  1-27, 
iv.  6-21),  and  obviously  his  enemies  at  Corinth  had 
tried  to  turn  these  personal  passages  against  him.  They 
did  so  on  the  principle  Qui  s' excuse  s' accuse.  "  He  is 
commending  himself/'  they  said,  "  and  self-commenda- 
tion is  an  argument  which  discredits,  instead  of  sup- 
porting, a  cause."  The  Apostle  had  heard  of  these 
malicious  speeches,  and  in  this  Epistle  makes  repeated 
reference  to  them  (see  chaps,  v.  12,  x.  18,  xiii.  6).  He 
entirely  agreed  with  his  opponents  that  self-praise  was 

99 


lOO     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 


no  honour.  "  Not  he  who  commendeth  himself  is 
approved,  but  he  whom  the  Lord  commendeth."  But 
he  denied  point-blank  that  he  was  commending  himself. 
In  distinguishing  as  he  had  done  in  chap.  ii.  14-17 
between  himself  and  his  colleagues,  who  spoke  the 
Word  "  as  of  sincerity,  as  of  God,  in  the  sight  of  God," 
and  "  the  many  "  who  corrupted  it,  nothing  was  further 
from  his  mind  than  to  plead  his  cause,  as  a  suspected 
person,  with  the  Corinthians.  Only  malignity  could 
suppose  any  such  thing,  and  the  indignant  question  with 
which  the  chapter  opens  tacitly  accuses  his  adversaries 
of  this  hateful  vice.  It  is  pitiful  to  see  a  great  and 
generous  spirit  like  Paul  compelled  thus  to  stand  upon 
guard,  and  watch  against  the  possible  misconstruction 
of  every  lightest  word.  What  needless  pain  it  inflicts 
upon  him,  what  needless  humiliation  I  How  it  checks 
all  effusion  of  feeding,  and  robs  what  should  be  brotherly 
intercourse  of  everything  that  can  make  it  free  and 
glad  I  Further  on  in  the  Epistle  there  will  be  abundant 
opportunity  of  speaking  on  this  subject  at  greater 
length  ;  but  it  is  proper  to  remark  here  that  a  minister's 
character  is  the  whole  capital  he  has  for  carrying  on 
his  business,  and  that  nothing  can  be  more  cruel  and 
wicked  than  to  cast  suspicion  on  it  without  cause.  In 
most  other  callings  a  man  may  go  on,  no  matter  what 
his  character,  provided  his  balance  at  the  bank  is  on 
the  right  side ;  but  an  evangelist  or  a  pastor  who  has 
lost  his  character  has  lost  everything.  It  is  humiliating 
to  be  subject  to  suspicion,  painful  to  be  silent  under 
it,  degrading  to  speak.  At  a  later  stage  Paul  was 
compelled  to  go  further  than  he  goes  here ;  but  let  the 
indignant  emotion  of  this  abrupt  question  remind  us 
that  candour  is  to  be  met  with  candour,  and  that  the 
suspicious  temper  which  would  fain  malign  the  good 


iii.  1-3.]  LIVING  EPISTLES  101 

eats    like    a    canker    the    very    heart    of    those    who 
cherish  it. 

From  the  serious  tone  the  Apostle  passes  suddenly 
to  the  ironical.  ''  Or  need  we,  as  do  some,  epistles  of 
commendation  to  you  or  from  you  ?  "  The  "  some  "  of 
this  verse  are  probably  the  same  as  "  the  many  "  of  chap, 
ii.  17.  Persons  had  come  to  Corinth  in  the  character 
of  Christian  teachers,  bringing  with  them  recommenda- 
tory letters  which  secured  their  standing  when  they 
arrived.  An  example  of  what  is  meant  can  be  seen 
in  Acts  xviii,  27.  There  we  are  told  that  when  Apollos, 
who  had  been  working  in  Ephesus,  was  minded  to  pass 
over  into  Achaia,  the  Ephesian  brethren  encouraged 
him,  and  wrote  to  the  disciples  to  receive  him — that 
is,  they  gave  him  an  epistle  of  commendation,  which 
secured  him  recognition  and  welcome  in  Corinth.  A 
similar  case  is  found  in  Rom.  xvi.  i,  where  the  Apostle 
uses  the  very  word  which  we  have  here  :  "  I  commend 
unto  you  Phoebe  our  sister,  who  is  a  servant  of  the 
Church  that  is  at  Cenchreae  :  that  ye  receive  her  in  the 
Lord,  worthily  of  the  saints,  and  that  ye  assist  her  in 
whatsoever  matter  she  may  have  need  of  you  :  for  she 
herself  also  hath  been  a  succourer  of  many,  and  of  mine 
own  self."  This  was  Phoebe's  introduction,  or  epistle 
of  commendation,  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  Cor- 
inthians were  evidently  in  the  habit  both  of  receiving 
such  letters  from  other  Churches,  and  of  granting  them 
on  their  own  account ;  and  Paul  asks  them  ironically  if 
they  think  he  ought  to  bring  one,  or  when  he  leaves 
them  to  apply  for  one.  Is  tJiat  the  relation  which  ought 
to  obtain  between  him  and  them?  The  "some,"  to 
whom  he  refers,  had  no  doubt  come  from  Jerusalem  :  it 
is  they  who  are  referred  to  in  chap.  xi.  22  fif.  But  it  does 
not  follow  that  their  recommendatory  letters  had  been 


102     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

signed  by  Peter,  James,  and  John  ;  and  just  as  little 
that  those  letters  justified  them  in  their  hostility  to 
Paul.  No  doubt  there  were  many — many  myriads,  the 
Book  of  Acts  says — at  Jerusalem,  whose  conception  of 
the  Gospel  was  very  different  from  his,  and  who  were 
glad  to  counteract  him  whenever  they  could  ;  but  there 
were  many  also,  including  the  three  who  seemed  to  be 
pillars,  who  had  a  thoroughly  good  understanding  with 
him,  and  who  had  no  responsibility  for  the  ''  some " 
and  their  doings.  The  epistles  which  the  "  some " 
brought  were  plainly  such  as  the  Corinthians  them- 
selves could  grant,  and  it  is  a  complete  misinterpreta- 
tion to  suppose  that  they  were  a  commission  granted 
by  the  Twelve  for  the  persecution  of  Paul. 

The  giving  of  recommendatory  letters  is  a  subject 
of  considerable  practical  interest.  When  they  are 
merely  formal,  as  in  our  certificates  of  Church  member- 
ship, they  come  to  mean  very  little.  It  is  an  unhappy 
state  of  affairs  perhaps,  but  no  one  would  take  a 
certificate  of  Church  membership  by  itself  as  a  satis- 
factory recommendation.  And  when  we  go  past  the 
merely  formal,  difficult  questions  arise.  Many  people 
have  an  estimate  of  their  own  character  and  competence, 
in  which  it  is  impossible  for  others  to  share,  and  yet 
they  apply  without  misgiving  to  their  friends,  and 
especially  to  their  minister  or  their  employer,  to  grant 
them  "  epistles  of  commendation."  We  are  bound  to 
be  generous  in  these  things,  but  we  are  bound  also 
to  be  honest.  The  rule  which  ought  to  guide  us, 
especially  in  all  that  belongs  to  the  Church  and  its 
work,  is  the  interest  of  the  cause,  and  not  of  the 
worker.  To  flatter  is  to  do  a  wrong,  not  only  to  the 
person  flattered,  but  to  the  cause  in  which  you  are 
trying  to   employ  him.      There  is  no  more  ludicrous 


iii.  1-3]  LIVING   EPISTLES  103 

reading  in  the  world  than  a  bundle  of  certificates, 
or  testimonials,  as  they  are  called.  As  a  rule,  they 
certify  nothing  but  the  total  absence  of  judgment  and 
conscience  in  the  people  who  have  granted  them.  If 
you  do  not  know  whether  a  person  is  qualified  for  any 
given  situation  or  not,  you  do  not  need  to  say  anything 
about  it.  If  you  know  he  is  not,  and  he  asks  you  to 
say  that  he  is,  no  personal  consideration  must  keep 
you  from  kindly  but  firm.ly  declining.  I  am  not  preach- 
ing suspicion,  or  reserve,  or  anything  ungenerous,  but 
justice  and  truth.  It  is  wicked  to  betray  a  great 
interest  by  bespeaking  it  for  incompetent  hands ;  it  is 
cruel  to  put  any  one  into  a  place  for  which  he  is  unfit. 
Where  you  are  confident  that  the  man  and  the  work 
will  be  well  matched,  be  as  generous  as  you  please ; 
but  never  forget  that  the  work  is  to  be  considered  in 
the  first  place,  and  the  man  only  in  the  second. 

Paul  has  been  serious,  and  ironical,  in  the  first 
verse  ;  in  ver.  2  he  becomes  serious  again,  and  remains 
so.  "  Yon"  he  says,  answering  his  ironical  question, 
^'yoti  are  our  epistle.."  Epistle,  of  course,  is  to  be 
taken  in  the  sense  of  the  preceding  verse.  ^'  Yon  are  the 
commendatory  letter  which  /  show,  when  I  am  asked 
for  my  credentials."  But  to  whom  does  he  show  it  ? 
In  the  first  instance,  to  the  captious  Corinthians  them- 
selves. The  tone  of  chap.  ix.  in  the  First  Epi.stle  is 
struck  here  again  :  "  Wherever  I  may  need  recommen- 
dations, it  is  certainly  not  at  Corinth."  "  If  I  be  not  an 
apostle  to  others,  yet  doubtless  I  am  to  you  :  the  seal 
of  mine  apostleship  are  ye  in  the  Lord."  Had  they 
been  a  Christian  community  when  he  first  visited  them, 
they  might  have  asked  who  he  was ;  but  they  owed 
their  Christianity  to  him  ;  he  was  their  father  in 
Christ;  to  put  him   to  the  question  in  this  superior, 


I04     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

suspicious  style  was  unnatural,  unfilial  ingratitude. 
They  themselves  were  the  living  evidence  of  the  very 
thing  which  they  threw  doubt  upon — the  apostleship 
of  Paul. 

This  bold  utterance  may  well  excite  misgivings  in 
those  who  preach  constantly,  yet  see  no  result  of  their 
work.  It  is  common  to  disparage  success,  the  success 
of  visible  acknowledged  conversions,  of  bad  men  openly 
renouncing  badness,  bearing  witness  against  them- 
selves, and  embracing  a  new  life.  It  is  common  to 
glorify  the  ministry  which  works  on,  patient  and  un- 
complaining, in  one  monotonous  round,  ever  sowing, 
but  never  reaping,  ever  casting  the  net,  but  never 
drawing  in  the  fish,  ever  marking  time,  but  never 
advancing.  Paul  frankly  and  repeatedly  appeals  to  his 
success  in  evangelistic  work  as  the  final  and  sufficient 
proof  that  God  had  called  him,  and  had  given  him 
authority  as  an  apostle  ;  and  search  as  we  will,  we 
shall  not  find  any  test  so  good  and  unequivocal  as  this 
success.  Paul  had  seen  the  Lord  ;  he  was  qualified 
to  be  a  witness  of  the  Resurrection  ;  but  these,  at  the 
very  most,  were  his  own  affair,  till  the  witness  he  bore 
had  proved  its  power  in  the  hearts  and  consciences  of 
others.  How  to  provide,  to  train,  and  to  test  the  men 
who  are  to  be  the  ministers  of  the  Christian  Church 
is  a  matter  of  the  very  utmost  consequence,  to  which 
sufficient  attention  has  not  yet  been  given.  Congrega- 
tions which  choose  their  own  pastor  are  often  compelled 
to  take  a  man  quite  untried,  and  to  judge  him  more  or 
less  on  superficial  grounds.  They  can  easily  find  out 
whether  he  is  a  competent  scholar ;  they  can  see  for 
themselves  what  are  his  gifts  of  speech,  his  virtues  or 
defects  of  manner ;  they  can  get  such  an  impression 
as  sensible  people  always  get,  by  seeing  and  hearing  a 


iii.  1-3.]  LIVING  EPISTLES  105 

man,  of  the  general  earnestness  or  lack  of  earnestness 
in  his  character.  But  often  they  feel  that  more  is 
wanted.  It  is  not  exactly  more  in  the  way  of  character ; 
the  members  of  a  Church  have  no  right  to  expect  that 
their  minister  will  be  a  truer  Christian  than  they  them- 
selves are.  A  special  inquisition  into  his  conversion, 
or  his  religious  experience,  is  mere  hypocrisy;  if  the 
Church  is  not  sufficiently  in  earnest  to  guard  herself 
against  insincere  members,  she  must  take  the  risk  of 
insincere  ministers.  What  is  wanted  is  what  the 
Apostle  indicates  here — that  intimation  of  God's  con- 
currence which  is  given  through  success  in  evangelistic 
work.  No  other  intimation  of  God's  concurrence  is 
infallible — no  call  by  a  congregation,  no  ordination  by 
a  presbytery  or  by  a  bishop.  Theological  education  is 
easily  provided,  and  easily  tested;  but  it  will  not  be 
so  easy  to  introduce  the  reforms  which  are  needed  in 
this  direction.  Great  masses  of  Christian  people,  how- 
ever, are  becoming  alive  to  the  necessity  for  them  ; 
and  when  the  pressure  is  more  strongly  felt,  the  way 
for  action  will  be  discovered.  Only  those  who  can 
appeal  to  what  they  have  done  in  the  Gospel  can  be 
known  to  have  the  qualifications  of  Gospel  ministers; 
and  in  due  time  the  fact  will  be  frankly  recognised. 

The  conversion  and  new  life  of  the  Corinthians  were 
Paul's  certificate  as  an  apostle.  They  were  a  certifi- 
cate known,  he  says,  and  read  by  all  men.  Often 
there  is  a  certain  awkwardness  in  the  presenting  of 
credentials.  It  embarrasses  a  man  when  he  has  to 
put  his  hand  into  his  breast  pocket,  and  take  out  his 
character,  and  submit  it  for  inspection.  Paul  was 
saved  this  embarrassment.  There  was  a  fine  unsought 
publicity  about  his  testimonials.  Everybody  knew 
what  the  Corinthians  had  been,  everybody  knew  what 


io6     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

they  were ;  and  the  man  to  whom  the  change  was 
due  needed  no  other  recommendation  to  a  Christian 
society.  Whoever  looked  at  them  saw  plainly  that 
they  were  an  epistle  of  Christ;  the  mind  of  Christ 
could  be  read  upon  them,  and  it  had  been  written  by 
.the  intervention  of  Paul's  hand.  This  is  an  interest- 
ing though  a  well-worn  conception  of  the  Christian 
character.  Every  life  has  a  meaning,  we  say;  every 
face  is  a  record ;  but  the  text  goes  further.  The  life 
of  the  Christian  is  an  epistle  ;  it  has  not  only  a  mean- 
ing, but  an  address  ;  it  is  a  message  from  Christ  to 
the  world.  Is  Christ's  message  to  men  legible  on 
our  lives?  When  those  who  are  without  look  at  us, 
do  they  see  the  hand  of  Christ  quite  unmistakably  ? 
Does  it  ever  occur  to  anybody  that  there  is  something 
in  our  life  which  is  not  of  the  world,  but  which  is  a 
message  to  the  world  from  Christ  ?  Did  you  ever, 
startled  by  the  unusual  brightness  of  a  true  Chris- 
tian's life,  ask  as  it  were  involuntarily,  "  Whose  image 
and  superscription  is  this  ?  "  and  feel  as  you  asked  it 
that  these  features,  these  characters,  could  only  have 
been  traced  by  one  hand,  and  that  they  proclaimed 
to  all  the  grace  and  power  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  Christ 
wishes  so  to  write  upon  us  that  men  may  see  what 
He  does  for  man.  He  wishes  to  engrave  His  image 
on  our  nature,  that  all  spectators  may  feel  that  it  has 
a  message  for  them,  and  may  crave  the  same  favour. 
A  congregation  which  is  not  in  its  very  existence  and 
in  all  its  works  and  ways  a  legible  epistle,  an  un- 
mistakable message  from  Christ  to  man,  does  not 
answer  to  this  New  Testament  ideal. 

Paul  claims  no  part  here  but  that  of  Christ's  instru- 
ment. The  Lord,  so  to  speak,  dictated  the  letter,  and 
he  wrote  it,     The  contents   of  it  were  prescribed  by 


iii.  1-3.]  LIl'ING  EPISTLES  107 

Christ,  and  through  the  Apostle's  ministry  became 
visible  and  legible  in  the  Corinthians.  More  im- 
portant is  it  to  notice  with  what  the  writing  was  done : 
"  not  with  ink,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  but  with  the  Spirit  of  the 
living  God."  At  first  sight  this  contrast  seems  formal 
and  fantastic  ;  nobody,  we  think,  could  ever  dream  of 
making  either  of  these  things  do  the  work  of  the  other, 
so  that  it  seems  perfectly  gratuitous  in  Paul  to  say, 
"  not  with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit."  Yet  ink  is  some- 
times made  to  bear  a  great  deal  of  responsibility.  The 
characters  of  the  TLvh  ('^  some  ")  in  ver.  i.  were  only 
written  in  ink ;  they  had  nothing,  Paul  implies,  to 
recommend  them  but  these  documents  in  black  and 
white.  That  was  hardly  sufficient  to  guarantee  their 
authority,  or  their  competence  as  ministers  in  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation.  But  do  not  Churches  yet  accept 
their  ministers  with  the  same  inadequate  testimonials  ? 
A  distinguished  career  at  the  University,  or  in  the 
Divinity  Schools,  proves  that  a  man  can  write  with 
ink,  under  favourable  circumstances ;  it  does  not  prove 
more  than  that;  it  does  not  prove  that  he  will  be 
spiritually  effective,  and  everything  else  is  irrelevant. 
I  do  not  say  this  to  disparage  the  professional  training 
of  ministers ;  on  the  contrary,  the  standard  of  training 
ought  to  be  higher  than  it  is  in  all  the  Churches  :  I 
only  wish  to  insist  that  nothing  which  can  be  repre- 
sented in  ink,  no  learning,  no  literary  gifts,  no  critical 
acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures  even,  can  write  upon 
human  nature  the  Epistle  of  Christ.  To  do  that  needs 
"the  Spirit  of  the  living  God."  We  feel,  the  moment 
we  come  upon  those  words,  that  the  Apostle  is  anticipat- 
ing ;  he  has  in  view  already  the  contrast  he  is  going  to 
develop  between  the  old  dispensation  and  the  new, 
and  the  irresistible  inward  power  by  which  the   new 


io8     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

is  characterised.  Others  might  boast  of  quahfications 
to  preach  which  could  be  certified  in  due  documentary 
form,  but  he  carried  in  him  wherever  he  went  a  power 
which  was  its  own  witness,  and  which  overruled  and 
dispensed  with  every  other.  Let  all  of  us  who  teach 
or  preach  concentrate  our  interest  here.  It  is  in  "  the 
Spirit  of  the  living  God,"  not  in  any  acquirements  of 
our  own,  still  less  in  any  recommendations  of  others, 
that  our  serviceableness  as  ministers  of  Christ  lies. 
We  cannot  write  His  epistle  without  it.  We  cannot 
see,  let  us  be  as  diligent  and  indefatigable  in  our 
work  as  we  please,  the  image  of  Christ  gradually  come 
out  in  those  to  whom  we  minister.  Parents,  teachers, 
preachers,  this  is  the  one  thing  needful  for  us  all. 
**  Tarry,"  said  Jesus  to  the  first  evangelists,  '^  tarry  in 
the  city  of  Jerusalem,  until  ye  be  endued  with  power 
from  on  high  " ;  it  is  of  no  use  to  begin  without  that. 

This  idea  of  the  *'  epistle  "  has  taken  such  a  hold 
of  the  Apostle's  mind,  and  he  finds  it  so  suggestive 
whichever  way  he  turns  it,  that  he  really  tries  to  say 
too  much  about  it  in  one  sentence.  The  crowding  of 
his  ideas  is  confusing.  One  learned  critic  enumerates 
three  points  in  which  the  figure  becomes  inconsistent 
with  itself,  and  another  can  only  defend  the  Apostle 
by  saying  that  this  figurative  letter  might  well  have 
qualities  which  would  be  self-contradictory  in  a  real 
one.  This  kind  of  criticism  smells  a  little  of  ink,  and 
the  only  real  difficulty  in  the  sentence  has  never  misled 
any  one  who  read  it  with  sympathy.  It  is  this — that 
St.  Paul  speaks  of  the  letter  as  written  in  two  different 
places.  ''Ye  are  our  epistle,"  he  says  at  the  beginning, 
"  written  m  our  hearts " ;  but  at  the  end  he  says, 
"written  not  on  tables  of  stone,  but  on  tables  that 
are  hearts  of  flesh  " — meaning  evidently  on  the  hearts 


iii.  1-3.]  LIVING  EPISTLES  109 


of  the  Corinthians.  Of  course  this  last  is  the  sense 
which  coheres  with  the  figure.  Paul's  ministry  wrote 
the  Epistle  of  Christ  upon  the  Corinthians,  or,  if  we 
prefer  it,  wrought  such  a  change  in  their  hearts  that 
they  became  an  epistle  of  Christ,  an  epistle  to  which 
he  appealed  in  proof  of  his  apostolic  calling.  In  ex- 
pressing himself  as  he  does  about  this,  he  is  again 
anticipating  the  coming  contrast  of  Law  and  Gospel. 
Nobody  would  think  of  writing  a  letter  on  tables  of 
stone,  and  he  only  says  "  not  on  stone  tables  "  because 
he  has  in  his  mind  the  difference  between  the  Mosaic 
and  the  Christian  dispensation.  It  is  quite  out  of 
place  to  refer  to  Ezek.  xi.  19,  xxxvi.  26,  and  to  drag 
in  the  contrast  between  hard  and  tender  hearts.  What 
Paul  means  is  that  the  Epistle  of  Christ  is  not  written 
on  dead  matter,  but  on  human  nature,  and  that  too  at 
its  finest  and  deepest.  When  we  remember  the  sense 
of  depth  and  inwardness  which  attaches  to  the  heart 
in  Scripture,  it  is  not  forcing  the  words  to  find  in  them 
the  suggestion  that  the  Gospel  works  no  merely  outward 
change.  It  is  not  written  on  the  surface,  but  in  the 
soul.  The  Spirit  of  the  living  God  finds  access  for 
itself  to  the  secret  places  of  the  human  spirit ;  the  most 
hidden  recesses  of  our  nature  are  open  to  it,  and  the 
very  heart  is  made  new.  To  be  able  to  write  there  for 
Christ,  to  point  not  to  anything  dead,  but  to  living  men 
and  women,  not  to  anything  superficial,  but  to  a  change 
that  has  reached  the  very  core  of  man's  being,  and 
works  its  way  out  from  thence,  is  the  testimonial  which 
guarantees  the  evangelist ;  it  is  the  divine  attestation 
that  he  is  in  the  true  apostolical  succession.^ 

'  The  true  reading  of  the  last  words  in  ver.  3  is  doubtful.  The 
Received  Text  has  iv  TrXa^i  Kapdias  aapKivais.  This  is  as  old  as 
Ireneeus  and  Origen,   and   is  found  in    many  versions.     Almost  all 


no     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

What,  then,  does  Paul  mean  by  the  other  clause, 
*'  ye  are  our  epistle,  written  on  our  hearts  "  ?  I  do  not 
think  we  can  get  much  more  than  an  emotional  cer- 
tainty about  this  expression.  When  a  man  has  been 
an  intensely  interested  spectator,  still  more  an  intensely 
interested  actor,  in  any  great  affair,  he  might  say  after- 
wards that  the  whole  thing  and  all  its  circumstances 
were  engraved  upon  his  heart.  I  imagine  that  is  what 
St.  Paul  means  here.  The  conversion  of  the  Cor- 
inthians made  them  an  epistle  of  Christ;  in  making 
them  believers  through  St.  Paul's  ministry,  Christ  wrote 
on  their  hearts  what  was  really  an  epistle  to  the  world ; 
and  the  whole  transaction,  in  which  Paul's  feelings  had 
been  deeply  engaged,  stood  written  on  his  heart  for 
ever.  Interpretations  that  go  beyond  this  do  not  seem 
to  me  to  be  justified  by  the  words.  Thus  Heinrici  and 
Meyer  say,  *'We  have  in  our  own  consciousness  the 
certainty  of  being  recommended  to  you  by  yourselves 
and  to  others  by  you " ;  and  they  elucidate  this  by 
saying,  **  The  Apostle's  own  good  consciousness  was,  as 
it  were,  the  tablet  on  which  this  living  epistle  of  the 
Corinthians  stood,  and  that  had  to  be  left  unassailed 
even  by  the  most  malevolent."  -^"A  sense  so  pragmatical 
and  pedantic,  even  if  one  can  grasp  it  at  all,  is  surely 
out  of  place,  and  many  readers  will  fail  to  discover  it 
in  the  text.     What  the  words  do  convey  is  the  warm 

MSS.  give  the  reading  which  is  translated  in  the  Revised  Version : 
iv  TrXa^i  /capStais  capKivan  ({<,  A,  B,  C,  D,  etc.) ;  and  this  is  adopted 
by  most  of  the  purely  critical  editors.  Some,  however,  and  many 
exegetes,  suspect  a  primitive  error,  affecting  all  MSS.  and  versions. 
Schmiedel  would  omit  KapSiais  or  Kapdias,  as  a  marginal  note,  sug- 
gested by  Prov.  vii.  3,  Jer.  xvii.  i ;  Westcott  and  Hort,  on  the  other 
hand,  think  that  irXa^i  may  be  a  primitive  interpolation.  No  cer- 
tainty is  possible ;  but  considering  Old  Testament  usage,  one  would 
expect  Paul  to  write  iv  TrXa^t  Kapdias  almost  unconsciously. 


iii.  1-3.]  LIVING  EPISTLES 


love  of  the  Apostle,  who  had  exercised  his  ministry 
among  the  Corinthfans  with  all  the  passion  of  his 
nature,  and  who  still  bore  on  his  ardent  heart  the 
fresh  impression  of  his  work  and  its  results. 

Amid  all  these  details  let  us  take  care  not  to  lose  the 
one  great  lesson  of  the  passage.  Christian  people  owe 
a  testimony  to  Christ.  His  name  has  been  pronounced 
over  them,  and  all  who  look  at  them  ought  to  see  His 
nature.  We  should  discern  in  the  heart  and  in  the 
behaviour  of  Christians  the  handwriting,  let  us  say  the 
characters,  not  of  avarice,  of  suspicion,  of  envy,  of  lust, 
of  falsehood,  of  pride,  but  of  Christ.  It  is  to  us  He 
has  committed  Himself;  we  are  the  certification  to  men 
of  what  He  does  for  man ;  His  character  is  in  our  care. 
The  true  epistles  of  Christ  to  the  world  are  not  those  ( 
which  are  expounded  in  pulpits  ;  they  are  not  even 
the  gospels  in  which  Christ  Himself  lives  and  moves  ] 
before  us ;  they  are  living  men  and  women,  on  the 
tables  of  whose  hearts  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God, 
ministered  by  a  true  evangelist,  has  engraved  the 
likeness  of  Christ  Himself.  It  is  not  the  written  Word 
on  which  Christianity  ultimately  depends;  it  is  not 
the  sacraments,  nor  so-called  necessary  institutions :  it 
is  this  inward,  spiritual,  Divine  writing  which  is  the 
guarantee  of  all  else. 


IX 

THE    TWO    COVENANTS 

"And  such  confidence  have  we  through  Christ  to  God-ward  :  not 
that  we  are  sufficient  of  ourselves,  to  account  anything  as  from 
ourselves ;  but  our  sufficiency  is  from  God ;  who  also  made  us 
sufficient  as  ministers  of  a  new  covenant ;  not  of  the  letter,  but  of 
the  spirit:  for  the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life.  But  if 
the  ministration  of  death,  written,  and  engraven  on  stones,  came 
with  glory,  so  that  the  children  of  Israel  could  not  look  stedfastly 
upon  the  face  of  Moses  for  the  glory  of  his  face  ;  which  glory  was 
passing  away:  how  shall  not  rather  the  ministration  of  the  spirit 
be  with  glory?  For  if  the  ministration  of  condemnation  is  glory, 
much  rather  doth  the  ministration  of  righteousness  exceed  in  glory. 
For  verily  that  which  hath  been  made  glorious  hath  not  been  made 
glorious  in  this  respect,  by  reason  of  the  glory  that  surpasseth.  For 
if  that  which  passeth  away  was  with  glory,  much  more  that  which 
remaineth  is  in  glory." — 2  Cor.  iii.  4-1 1  (R.V.). 

THE  confidence  referred  to  in  the  opening  of  this 
passage  is  that  which  underHes  the  triumphant 
sentences  at  the  end  of  the  second  chapter.  The  tone 
of  those  sentences  was  open  to  misinterpretation,  and 
Paul  guards  himself  against  this  on  two  sides.  To 
begin  with,  his  motive  in  so  expressing  himself  was 
quite  pure  :  he  had  no  thought  of  commending  himself 
to  the  Corinthians.  And,  again,  the  ground  of  his 
confidence  was  not  in  himself.  The  courage  which  he 
had  to  speak  as  he  did  he  had  through  Jesus  Christ, 
and  that,  too,  in  relation  to  God.  It  was  virtually 
confidence  in  God,  and  therefore  inspired  by  God. 
It   is   this    last   aspect    of  his   confidence   which  is 


iii.4-M.]  THE   TWO  COVENANTS  113 


expanded  in  the  fiftli  verse  :  "  not  that  we  are  sufficient 
of  ourselves,  to  account  anything  as  from  ourselves  ; 
but  our  sufficiency  is  from  God."  This  vehement  dis- 
claimer of  any  self-sufficiency  has  naturally  been  taken 
in  the  widest  sense,  and  theologians  from  Augustine 
downward  have  found  in  it  one  of  the  most  decisive 
proofs  of  the  inability  of  man  for  any  spiritual  good 
accompanying  salvation.  No  one,  we  may  be  sure, 
would  have  ascribed  salvation,  and  all  spiritual  good 
accompanying  it,  entirely  to  God  with  more  hearty 
sincerity  than  the  Apostle  ;  but  it  does  seem  better 
here  to  give  his  words  a  narrower  and  more  relevant 
interpretation.  The  **  sufficiency  to  account  anything," 
of  which  he  speaks,  must  have  a  definite  meaning  for 
the  context ;  and  this  meaning  is  suggested  by  the 
words  of  chap.  ii.  14-17.  Paul  would  never  have 
dared,  he  tells  us — indeed,  he  would  never  have  been 
able — on  his  own  motion,  and  out  of  his  own  resources, 
either  to  form  conclusions,  or  to  express  them,  on 
the  subjects  there  in  view.  It  is  not  for  any  man 
at  random  to  say  what  the  true  Gospel  is,  what  are 
its  issues,  what  the  responsibilities  of  its  hearers  or 
preachers,  what  is  the  spirit  requisite  in  the  evangelist, 
or  what  are  the  methods  legitimate  for  him.  The 
Gospel  is  God's  concern,  and  only  those  who  have 
been  capacitated  by  Him  are  entitled  to  speak  as  Paul 
has  spoken.  If  this  is  a  narrower  sense  than  that 
which  is  expounded  so  vigorously  by  Calvin,  it  is 
more  pertinent,  and  some  will  find  it  quite  as  pungent. 
Of  all  things  that  are  done  hastily  and  inconsiderately, 
by  people  calling  themselves  Christian,  the  criticism  of 
evangelists  is  one  of  the  most  conspicuous.  At  his 
own  prompting,  out  of  his  own  wise  head,  any  man 
almost   will    both  make    up    his   mind  and  speak    his 

8 


114     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

mind  about  any  preacher  with  no  sense  of  responsibility 
whatever.  Paul  certainly  did  form  opinions  about 
preachers,  opinions  which  were  anything  but  flattering ; 
but  he  did  it  through  Jesus  Christ  and  in  relation  to 
God ;  he  did  it  because,  as  he  writes,  God  had  made 
him  sufficient,  i.e.  had  given  him  capacity  to  be,  and 
the  capacity  of,  a  true  evangelist,  so  that  he  knew 
both  what  the  Gospel  was,  and  how  it  ought  to  be 
proclaimed.  It  would  silence  much  incompetent,  because 
self-sufficient,  criticism,  if  no  one  "  thought  anything" 
who  had  not  this  qualification. 

The  qualification  having  been  mentioned,  the  Apostle 
proceeds,  as  usual,  to  enlarge  upon  it.  ''Our  sufficiency 
is  of  God ;  who  also  made  us  sufficient  as  ministers  of 
a  new  covenant ;  not  of  letter,  but  of  spirit :  for  the 
letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life."  At  the  first 
glance,  we  see  no  reason  why  his  thought  should  take 
this  direction,  and  it  can  only  be  because  those  whom 
he  is  opposing,  and  with  whom  he  has  contrasted 
himself  in  chap.  ii.  1 7,  are  in  some  sense  representatives 
of  the  old  covenant,  ministers  of  the  letter  in  spite  of 
their  claim  to  be  evangelists,  and  appealing  not  to  a 
competency  which  came  from  God,  but  to  one  which 
rested  on  "  the  flesh."  They  based  their  title  to  preach 
on  certain  advantages  of  birth,  or  on  having  known 
Jesus  when  He  lived  in  the  world,  or  perhaps  on 
certification  by  others  who  had  known  Him ;  at  all 
events,  not  on  that  spiritual  competence  which  Paul's 
ministry  at  Corinth  had  shown  him  to  possess.  That 
this  was  really  the  case  will  be  seen  more  fully  at  a 
later  stage  (especially  in  chaps,  x.  ff".). 

With  the  words  "ministers  of  a  new  covenant"  we 
enter  upon  one  of  the  great  passages  in  St.  Paul's 
writings,  and  are  allowed  to  see  one  of  the  inspiring 


iii.4-ii.]  THE   TWO   COVENANTS 


H5 


and  governing  ideas  in  his  mind.  "Covenant,"  even 
to  people  familiar  with  the  Bible,  is  beginning  to  be  a 
remote  and  technical  term;  it  needs  to  be  translated 
or  explained.  If  no  more  than  another  word  is  to  be 
used,  perhaps  ''dispensation"  or  ''constitution"  would 
suggest  something.  God's  covenant  with  Israel  was  the 
whole  constitution  under  which  God  was  the  God  of 
Israel,  and  Israel  the  people  of  God.  The  new  covenant 
of  which  Paul  speaks  necessarily  implies  an  old  one  ; 
and  the  old  one  is  this  covenant  with  Israel.  It  was  a 
national  covenant,  and  for  that,  among  other  reasons, 
it  was  represented  and  embodied  in  legal  forms.  There 
was  a  legal  constitution  under  which  the  nation  lived, 
and  according  to  which  all  God's  dealings  with  it,  and 
all  its  dealings  with  God,  were  regulated.  Without 
entering  more  deeply,  in  the  meantime,  into  the  nature 
of  this  constitution,  or  the  religious  experiences  which 
were  possible  to  those  who  lived  under  it,  it  is  sufficient 
to  notice  that  the  best  spiriis  in  the  nation  became 
conscious  of  its  inadequacy,  and  eventually  of  its  failure. 
Jeremiah,  who  lived  through  the  long  agony  of  his 
country's  dissolution,  and  saw  the  final  collapse  of 
the  ancient  order,  felt  this  failure  most  deeply,  and 
was  consoled  by  the  vision  of  a  brighter  future.  That 
future  rested  for  him  on  a  more  intimate  relation  of 
God  to  His  people,  on  a  constitution,  as  we  may  fairly 
paraphrase  his  words,  less  legal  and  more  spiritual. 
"  Behold,  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will 
make  a  new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel,  and 
with  the  house  of  Judah  :  not  according  to  the  covenant 
that  I  made  with  their  fathers  in  the  day  that  I  took 
them  by  the  hand  to  bring  them  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt ;  which  My  covenant  they  brake,  although  I  was 
an  husband  unto  them,  saith  the  Lord.     But  this  is  the 


ii6     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel  after 
those  days,  saith  the  Lord  ;  I  will  put  my  law  in  their 
inward  parts,  and  in  their  heart  will  I  write  it ;  and  I 
will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  My  people :  and 
they  shall  teach  no  more  every  man  his  neighbour,  and 
every  man  his  brother,  saying.  Know  the  Lord  :  for 
they  shall  all  know  Me,  from  the  least  of  them  unto  the 
greatest  of  them,  saith  the  Lord  :  for  I  will  forgive 
their  iniquity,  and  their  sin  will  I  remember  no  more." 
This  wonderful  passage,  so  profound,  so  spiritual,  so 
evangelical,  is  the  utmost  reach  of  prophecy  ;  it  is  a 
sort  of  stepping-stone  between  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  New.  Jeremiah  has  cried  to  God  out  of  the  depths, 
and  God  has  heard  his  cry,  and  raised  him  to  a  spiritual 
height  from  which  his  eye  ranges  over  the  land  of 
promise,  and  rests  with  yearning  on  all  its  grandest 
features.  We  do  not  know  whether  many  of  his 
contemporaries  or  successors  were  able  to  climb  the 
mount  which  offered  this  glorious  prospect ;  but  we 
know  that  the  promise  remained  a  promise — a  rainbow 
light  across  the  dark  cloud  of  national  disaster — till 
Christ  claimed  its  fulfilment  as  His  work.  It  was  His 
to  make  good  all  that  the  prophets  had  spoken  ;  and 
when  in  the  last  hours  of  His  life  He  said  to  His 
disciples,  **This  is  My  blood  of  the  covenant,^  which  is 
shed  for  many,  for  the  remission  of  sins,"  it  was 
exactly  as  if  He  had  laid  His  hand  on  that  passage 
of  Jeremiah,  and  said,  "  This  day  is  this  scripture  ful- 
filled before  your  eyes."  By  the  death  of  Jesus  a  new 
spiritual  order  was  established  ;  it  rested  on  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins,   it   made  God  accessible  to  all,   it  made 


'  The  true  reading  in  Matt.  xxvi.  28  omits  "  new,''  but  the  reference 
is  unmistakable. 


iii.4-ii.]  THE   TWO   COVENANTS 


obedience  an  instinct  and  a  joy  ;  all  the  intercourse  of 
God  and  man  was  carried  on  upon  a  new  footing, 
under  a  new  constitution  ;  to  use  the  words  of  the 
prophet  and  the  apostle,  God  made  a  new  covenant 
with  His  people. 

Among  the  Christians  of  the  first  age,  no  one  so 
thoroughly  appreciated  the  newness  of  Christianity, 
or  was  so  immensely  impressed  by  it,  as  St.  Paul. 
The  difference  between  the  earlier  dispensation  and 
the  later,  between  the  religion  of  Moses'  disciples  and 
the  religion  of  believers  in  Jesus  Christ,  was  one  that 
could  hardly  be  exaggerated  ;  he  himself  had  been  a 
zealot  of  the  old,  he  was  now  a  zealot  of  the  new  ;  and 
the  gulf  between  his  former  and  his  present  self  was  one 
that  no  geometry  could  measure.  He  had  lived,  after 
the  straitest  sect  of  the  old  religion,  a  Pharisee  ;  touch- 
ing the  righteousness  which  is  in  the  law  he  could  call 
himself  blameless  ;  he  had  tasted  the  whole  bitterness 
of  the  legalism,  the  formality,  the  bondage,  in  which 
the  old  covenant  entangled  those  who  were  devoted  to 
it  in  his  days.  It  is  with  this  in  his  memory  that  he 
here  sets  the  old  and  the  new  in  unrelieved  opposition 
to  each  other.  His  feeling  is  like  that  of  a  man  who 
has  just  been  liberated  from  prison,  and  whose  whole 
mind  is  possessed  and  filled  up  with  the  single  sensa- 
tion that  it  is  one  thing  to  be  chained,  and  another 
thing  to  be  free.  In  the  passage  before  us,  this  is  all 
the  Apostle  has  in  view.  He  speaks  as  if  the  old 
covenant  and  the  new  had  nothing  in  common,  as  if 
the  new,  to  borrow  Baur's  expression,  had  merely  a 
negative  relation  to  the  old,  as  if  it  could  only  be  con- 
trasted with  it,  and  not  compared  to  it,  or  illustrated  by 
it.  And  with  this  restricted  view  he  characterises  the 
old  dispensation  as  one  of  letter,  and  the  new  as  one 


ii8     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

of  spirit.^  Speaking  out  of  his  own  experience,  which 
was  not  soHtary,  but  typical,  he  could  truly  speak  thus. 
The  essence  of  the  old,  to  a  Pharisee  born  and  bred, 
was  its  documentary,  statutory  character :  the  law, 
written  in  letters,  on  stone  tablets  or  parchment  sheets, 
simply  confronted  men  with  its  uninspiring  imperative  ; 
it  had  never  yet  given  any  one  a  good  conscience  or 
enabled  him  to  attain  to  the  righteousness  of  God. 
The  essence  of  the  new,  on  the  other  hand,  was  spirit  ; 
the  Christian  was  one  in  whom,  through  Christ,  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God  dwelt,  putting  the  righteousness 
of  God  within  his  reach,  enabling  him  to  perfect  hoHness 
in  God's  fear.  The  contrast  is  made  absolute,  pro  tern. 
There  is  no  **  spirit "  in  the  old  at  all ;  there  is  no 
^'  letter "  in  the  new.  This  last  assertion  was  more 
natural  then  than  now ;  for  at  the  time  when  Paul 
wrote  this  Epistle,  there  was  no  ''  New  Testament  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ "  consigned  in 
documents  and  collected  for  the  use  of  the  Church. 
The  Gospel  existed  in  the  world,  not  at  all  in  books, 
but  only  in  men  ;  all  the  epistles  were  living  epistles ; 
there  was  literally  no  letter,  but  only  spirit. 

This,  doubtless,  is  the  explanation  of  the  blank 
antithesis  of  the  old  covenant  and  the  new  in  the 
passage  before  us.  But  it  is  obvious,  when  we  think 
of  it,  that  this  antithesis  does  not  exhaust  the  relations 
of  the  two.  It  is  not  the  whole  truth  about  the  earlier 
dispensation  to  say  that,  while  the  new  is  spiritual,  it 
is  not.  The  religion  of  the  Old  Testament  was  not 
mere  legalism ;  if  it  had  been,  the  Old  Testament  would 
be  for  us  an  unprofitable  and  almost  an  unintelligible 


'  Grammaticall3^,  it  is  probable  that  ypafx/uLaros  and  TrveufxaTos  in  ver.  6 
depend,  not  on  5ia6r]K7]i,  but  on  diuKovovs ;  but  the  sense  is  all  one. 


iii.4-ii]  THE    TWO   COVENANTS  119 

book.  That  religion  had  its  spiritual  side,  as  all  but 
utterly  corrupt  religions  always  have  ;  God  adniinislered 
His  grace  to  His  people  through  it,  and  in  psalms  and 
prophecies  we  have  records  of  their  experiences,  which 
are  not  legal,  but  spiritual,  and  priceless  even  to 
Christian  men.  Nor  would  Paul,  under  other  circum- 
stances, have  refused  to  admit  this;  on  the  contrary, 
it  is  a  prominent  element  in  his  teaching.  He  knows 
that  the  old  bears  in  its  bosom  the  promise  of  the  new, 
a  sum  of  promises  that  has  been  confirmed  and  made 
good  in  Jesus  Christ  (chap.  i.  20).  He  knows  that  the 
righteousness  of  God,  which  is  proclaimed  in  the  Gospel, 
is  witnessed  to  by  the  law  and  the  prophets  (Rom. 
iii.  21).  He  knows  that  "the  law,"  even,  is  "spiritual  " 
(Rom.  vii.  14).  He  knows  that  the  righteousness  of 
faith  was  a  secret  revealed  to  David  (Rom.  iv.  6  f ).  He 
would  probably  have  agreed  with  Stephen  that  the 
oracles  received  and  delivered  by  Moses  in  the  wilder- 
ness were  "  living "  oracles ;  and  his  profound  mind 
would  have  thrilled  to  hear  that  great  word  of  Jesus, 
"  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil."  Had  he  lived 
to  a  time  like  ours,  when  the  Gospel  also  has  been 
embodied  in  a  book,  instead  of  using  "  letter "  and 
"  spirit "  as  mutually  exclusive,  he  would  have  admitted, 
as  we  do,  that  both  ideas  apply,  in  some  sense,  to  both 
dispensations,  and  that  it  is  possible  to  take  the  old 
and  the  new  alike  either  in  the  letter  or  in  the  spirit. 
Nevertheless,  he  would  have  been  entitled  to  say  that, 
if  they  were  to  be  characterised  in  their  differences, 
they  must  be  characterised  as  he  has  done  it  :  the 
mark  of  the  old,  as  opposed  to  the  new,  is  literalism, 
or  legalism  ;  the  mark  of  the  new,  as  opposed  to  the 
old,  is  spirituality,  or  freedom.  They  differ  as  law 
differs  from  life,  as  compulsion  from  inspiration.     Taken 


120     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

thus,    no   one    can    have    any    difficulty    in    agreeing 
with  him. 

But  the  Apostle  does  not  rest  in  generalities :  he 
goes  on  to  a  more  particular  comparison  of  the  old  and 
the  new  dispensations,  and  especially  to  a  demonstration 
that  the  new  is  the  more  glorious.  He  starts  with 
a  statement  of  their  working,  as  dependent  on  their 
nature  just  described.  One  is  letter;  the  other,  spirit. 
Well,  the  letter  kills,  but  the  spirit  gives  life.  A 
sentence  so  pregnant  as  this,  and  so  capable  of  various 
applications,  must  have  been  very  perplexing  to  the 
Corinthians,  had  they  not  been  fairly  acquainted  before- 
hand with  the  Apostle's  "  form  of  doctrine  "  (Rom.  vi. 
17).  It  condenses  in  itself  a  whole  cycle  of  his 
characteristic  thoughts.  All  that  he  says  in  the  Epistles 
to  the  Romans  and  the  Galatians  about  the  working  of 
the  law,  in  its  relation  to  the  flesh,  is  represented  in 
*'the  letter  killeth."  The  power  of  the  law  to  create 
the  consciousness  of  sin  and  to  intensify  it ;  to  stimulate 
transgression,  and  so  make  sin  exceeding  sinful,  and 
shut  men  up  in  despair;  to  pass  sentence  upon  the 
guilty,  the  hopeless  sentence  of  death, — all  this  is 
involved  in  the  words.  The  fulness  of  meaning  is  as 
ample  in  *^the  spirit  giveth  life."  The  Spirit  of  Christ, 
given  to  those  who  receive  Christ  in  the  Gospel,  is  an 
infinite  power  and  an  infinite  promise.  It  includes  the 
reversal  of  all  that  the  letter  has  wrought.  The  sen- 
tence of  death  is  reversed  ;  the  impotence  to  good  is 
counteracted  and  overcome ;  the  soul  looks  out  to,  and 
anticipates,  not  the  blackness  of  darkness  for  ever,  but 
the  everlasting  glory  of  Christ.^     When  the  Apostle  has 

•The  contrast  of  "letter"  and  "spirit"  has,  as  is  well  known, 
been  taken  in  various  ways.  That  which  is  given  above  undoubtedly 
represents  St.  Paul's  mind,  and  may  be  called  the  historical  interpre- 


4-11.]  THE   TWO  COVENANTS 


written  these  two  little  sentences — when  he  has  sup- 
plied "letter  "  and  ''  spirit  "  with  the  predicates  "  kill  " 
and  "make  alive,"  in  the  sense  which  they  bear  in  the 
Christian  revelation — he  has  gone  as  far  as  the  mind  of 
man  can  go  in  stating  an  effective  contrast.  But  he 
works  it  out  with  reference  to  some  special  points  in 
which  the  superiority  of  the  new  to  the  old  is  to  be 
observed. 

(i)  In  the  first  place,  the  ministry  of  the  old  was  a 
ministry  of  death.  Even  as  such  it  had  a  glory,  or 
splendour,  of  its  own.  The  face  of  Moses,  its  great 
minister,  shone  after  he  had  been  in  the  presence  of 
God  ;  and  though  that  brightness  was  passing  away 
even  as  men  caught  sight  of  it  (ti-jv  Karapyov^ieviiv  is 
partic.  impf ),  it  was  so  resplendent  as  to  dazzle  the 
beholders.  But  the  ministry  of  the  new  is  a  ministry 
of  spirit :  and  who  would  not  argue  a  fortiori  that  it 
should  appear  in  glory  greater  still  ?  Both  the  fiaWov 
("  rather  "),  and  the  future  (earai),  in  ver.  8,  are  logical. 
Paul  speaks,  to  use  Bengel's  expression,  looking  for- 
ward as  it  were  from  the  Old  Testament  into  the  New. 
He  does  not  say  in  what  the  glory  of  the  new  consists. 

tation.  An  interpretation  so  common  in  early  times  that  it  might 
fairly  be  called  the  patristic,  would  explain  the  words  as  meaning 
that  the  lif  era  I  sense  of  the  Scriptures,  especially  of  the  Old  Testament, 
is  fatally  misleading,  and  that  we  must  find  what  that  literal  sense 
represents  to  the  laws  of  allegory,  if  we  would  make  it  a  word  of 
life  (cf.  in  Rev.  xi.  8,  "  the  great  city,  which  spiritually  is  called  Sodom 
and  Egypt,  where  also  our  Lord  was  crucified  ").  There  is  another 
interpretation  still,  which  may  be  called  the  literary  or  practical  one. 
According  to  this,  the  Apostle  means  that  the  spiritual  life,  whether 
of  intelligence  or  conscience,  is  strangled  by  literalism ;  we  must 
regard  not  words  as  such,  but  the  spirit  and  purpose  cf  their  author, 
if  we  are  to  have  life  and  progress.  This  is  perfectly  true,  but 
perfectly  irrelevant,  and  is  a  good  example  of  the  free-and-easy  way 
in  which  the  Bible  is  quoted  by  those  who  do  not  study  it. 


122     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

He  does  not  say  that  it  is  veiled  at  present,  and  will 
be  manifested  when  Christ  comes  to  transfigure  His 
own.  Even  the  use  of  "hope"  in  ver.  12  does  not 
prove  this.  He  leaves  it  quite  indefinite  ;  and  arguing 
from  the  nature  of  the  two  ministries,  which  has  just 
been  explained,  simply  concludes  that  in  glory  the  new 
must  far  transcend  the  old. 

(2)  In  vv.  9  and  10  he  puts  a  new  point  upon 
this.  "Death"  and  "life"  are  here  replaced  by  "con- 
demnation "  and  "righteousness."  It  is  through  con- 
demnation that  man  becomes  the  prey  of  death;  and  the 
grace  which  reigns  in  him  to  eternal  life  reigns  through 
righteousness  (Rom.  v.  21).  The  contrast  of  these 
two  words  is  very  significant  for  Paul's  conception  of 
the  Gospel  :  it  shows  how  essential  to  his  idea  of 
righteousness,  how  fundamental  in  it,  is  the  thought 
of  acquittal  or  acceptance  with  God.  Men  are  bad 
men,  sinful  men,  under  God's  condemnation ;  and  he 
cannot  conceive  a  Gospel  at  all  which  does  not 
announce,  at  the  very  outset,  the  removal  of  that  con- 
demnation, and  a  declaration  in  the  sinner's  favour. 
Perhaps  there  are  other  ways  of  conceiving  men,  and 
other  aspects  in  which  God  can  come  to  them  as  their 
Saviour ;  but  the  Pauline  Gospel  has  proved  itself,  and 
will  always  prove  itself  anew,  the  Gospel  for  the  sinful, 
who  know  the  misery  of  condemnation  and  despair. 
Mere  pardon,  as  it  has  been  called,  may  be  a  meagre 
conception,  but  it  is  that  without  which  no  other 
Christian  conception  can  exist  for  a  moment.  That 
which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  new  covenant,  and 
supports  all  its  magnificent  promises  and  hopes,  is  this  : 
"  I  will  forgive  their  iniquities,  and  I  will  remember 
their  sins  no  more."  If  we  could  imagine  this  taken 
away,  what  were  left  ?     Of  course   the  righteousness 


iii.4-ii.]  THE   TWO  COVENANTS  1 23 

which  the  Gospel  proclaims  /5  more  than  pardon  ;  it 
is  not  exhausted  when  we  say  it  is  the  opposite  of 
condemnation ;  but  unless  we  feel  that  the  very  nerve 
of  it  lies  in  the  removal  of  condemnation,  we  shall  never 
understand  the  New  Testament  tone  in  speaking  of  it. 
It  is  this  which  explains  the  joyous  rebound  of  the 
Apostle's  spirit  whenever  he  encounters  the  subject ; 
he  remembers  the  black  cloud,  and  now  there  is  clear 
shining ;  he  was  under  sentence  then,  but  now  he  is 
justified  by  faith,  and  has  peace  with  God.  He  cannot 
exaggerate  the  contrast,  nor  the  greater  glory  of  the 
new  state.  Granting  that  the  ministry  of  condemnation 
had  its  glory — that  the  revelation  of  law  "had  an 
austere  majesty  of  its  own  " — does  not  the  ministry  of 
righteousness,  the  Gospel  which  annulled  the  condemna- 
tion and  restored  man  to  peace  with  God,  overflow 
with  glory  ?  When  he  thinks  of  it,  he  is  tempted  to 
withdraw  the  concession  he  has  made.  We  may  call 
the  old  dispensation  and  its  ministry  glorious  if  we 
like ;  they  are  glorious  when  they  stand  alone ;  but 
when  comparison  is  made  with  the  new,^  they  are  not 
glorious  at  all.  The  stars  are  bright  till  the  moon 
rises ;  the  moon  herself  reigns  in  heaven  till  her 
splendour  pales  before  the  sun ;  but  when  the  sun 
shines  in  his  strength,  there  is  no  other  glory  in  the 
sky.  All  the  glories  of  the  old  covenant  have  vanished 
for  Paul  in  the  light  which  shines  from  the  Cross  and 
from  the  Throne  of  Christ. 

(3)  A  final  superiority  belongs  to  the  new  dispensa- 
tion and  its  ministry  as  compared  with  the  old — the 


•  Chrysostom  explains  ev  rovru)  rip  iJ-^pei  by  /card  rbv  t?}s  avyKpiaeu^ 
\6yov,  and  this  is  substantially  right.  But  I  think  the  words  merely 
anticipate  e'iveKev  ttjs  virepfSaWovarji  56^r]S. 


124     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

superiority  of  permanence  to  transiency.  "If  that 
which  passeth  away  was  with  glory,  much  more  that 
which  remaineth  is  in  glory."  The  verbs  here  are 
supplied  by  the  translators,  but  one  may  question 
whether  the  contrast  of  past  and  present  was  so  definite 
in  the  Apostle's  mind.  I  think  not,  and  the  reference 
to  Moses'  face  does  not  prove  that  it  was.  All  through 
these  comparisons  St.  Paul  expresses  himself  with  the 
utmost  generality ;  logical  and  ideal,  not  temporal, 
relations,  dominate  his  thoughts.  The  law  was  given  in 
glory  (iyevrjOr)  iv  So^rj,  ver.  7) — there  is  no  dispute  about 
that;  but  what  the  eleventh  verse  makes  prominent 
is  that  while  glory  is  the  attendant  or  accompaniment 
of  the  transient,  it  is  the  element  of  the  permanent. 
The  law  is  indeed  of  God  ;  it  has  a  function  in  the 
economy  of  God ;  it  is  at  the  very  lowest  a  negative 
preparation  for  the  Gospel ;  it  shuts  men  up  to  the 
acceptance  of  God's  mercy.  In  this  respect  the  glory 
on  Moses'  face  represents  the  real  greatness  which 
belongs  to  the  law  as  a  power  used  by  God  in  the 
working  out  of  His  loving  purpose.  But  at  the  best 
the  law  only  shuts  men  up  to  Christ,  and  then  its  work 
is  done.  The  true  greatness  of  God  is  revealed,  and 
with  it  His  true  glory,  once  for  all,  in  the  Gospel. 
There  is  nothing  beyond  the  righteousness  of  God, 
manifested  in  Christ  Jesus,  for  the  acceptance  of  faith. 
That  is  God's  last  word  to  the  world  :  it  has  absorbed 
in  it  even  the  glory  of  the  law;  and  it  is  bright  for 
ever  with  a  glory  above  all  other.  It  is  God's  chief 
end  to  reveal  this  glory  in  the  Gospel,  and  to  make 
men  partakers  of  it ;  it  has  been  so  always,  is  so  still, 
and  ever  shall  be;  and  in  the  consciousness  that  he 
has  seen  and  been  saved  by  the  eternal  love  of  God, 
and  is  now  a  minister  of  it,   the  Apostle  claims  this 


iii.4-ii.]  THE   TIVO   COVENANTS  125 

finality  of  the  new  covenant  as  its  crowning  glory. 
The  law,  like  the  lower  gifts  of  the  Christian  life, 
passes  away  ;  but  the  new  covenant  abides,  for  it  is 
the  revelation  of  love — that  love  which  is  the  being 
and  the  glory  of  God  Himself. 

These  qualities  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  which 
constitute  its  newness,  are  too  readily  lost  sight  of  It 
is  hard  to  appreciate  and  to  live  up  to  them,  and  hence 
they  are  always  lapsing  out  of  view,  and  requiring  to 
be  rediscovered.  In  the  first  age  of  Christianity  there 
were  many  m3^riads  of  Jews,  the  Book  of  Acts  tells  us, 
who  had  very  little  sense  of  the  newness  of  the  Gospel ; 
they  were  exceedingly  zealous  for  the  law,  even  for 
the  letter  of  all  its  ritual  prescriptions  :  Paul  and  his 
spiritual  conception  of  Christianity  were  their  bugbear. 
In  the  first  half  of  the  second  century  the  religion  even 
of  the  Gentile  Churches  had  already  become  more 
legal  than  evangelical  ;  there  was  wanting  any  sufficient 
apprehension  of  the  spirituality,  the  freedom,  and  the 
newness  of  Christianity  as  opposed  to  Judaism  ;  and 
though  the  reaction  of  Marcion,  who  denied  that  there 
was  any  connexion  whatever  between  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  New,  went  to  a  false  and  perverse 
extreme,  it  was  the  natural,  and  in  its  motives  the 
legitimate,  protest  of  spirit  and  life  against  letter  and 
law.  The  Reformation  in  the  sixteenth  century  was 
essentially  a  movement  of  similar  character :  it  was  the 
rediscovery  of  the  Pauline  Gospel,  or  of  the  Gospel  in 
those  characteristics  of  it  which  made  Paul's  heart  leap 
for  joy — its  justifying  righteousness,  its  spirituality,  its 
liberty.  In  a  Protestant  scholasticism  this  glorious 
Gospel  has  again  been  lost  oftener  than  once  ;  it  is 
lost  when  "  a  learned  ministry '"  deals  with  the  New 
Testament  writings  as  the  scribes  dealt  with  the  Old  ; 


126     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

it  is  lost  also — for  extremes  meet — when  an  unlearned 
piety  swears  by  verbal,  even  by  literal,  inspiration,  and 
takes  up  to  mere  documents  an  attitude  which  in 
principle  is  fatal  to  Christianity.  It  is  in  the  life  of 
the  Church — especially  in  that  life  which  communicates 
itself,  and  makes  the  Christian  community  what  the 
Jewish  never  was,  essentially  a  missionary  community — 
that  the  safeguard  of  all  these  high  characteristics  lies. 
A  Church  devoted  to  learning,  or  to  the  maintenance 
of  a  social  or  political  position,  or  even  merely  to  the 
cultivation  of  a  type  of  character  among  its  own 
members,  may  easily  cease  to  be  spiritual,  and  lapse 
into  legal  religion  :  a  Church  actively  engaged  in  pro- 
pagating itself  never  can.  It  is  not  with  the  ''  letter  " 
one  can  hopefully  address  unbelieving  men  ;  it  is  only 
with  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  work  in  the  heart ; 
and  where  the  Spirit  is,  there  is  liberty.  None  are  so 
^'  sound  "  on  the  essentials  of  the  faith  as  men  with  the 
truly  missionary  spirit ;  but  at  the  same  time  none  are 
so  completely  emancipated,  and  that  by  the  self-same 
Spirit,  from  all  that  is  not  itself  spiritual. 


THE    TRANSFIGURING  SPIRIT 

"  Having  therefore  such  a  hope,  we  use  great  boldness  of  speech, 
and  are  not  as  Moses,  ivho  put  a  veil  upon  his  face,  that  the  children 
of  Israel  should  not  look  stedfastly  on  the  end  of  that  which  was 
passing  away:  but  their  minds  were  hardened:  for  until  this  very 
day  at  the  reading  of  the  old  covenant  the  same  veil  remaineth  un- 
lifted ;  which  veil  is  done  away  in  Christ.  But  unto  this  day,  when- 
soever Moses  is  read,  a  veil  lieth  upon  their  heart.  But  whensoever 
it  shall  turn  to  the  Lord,  the  veil  is  taken  away.  Now  the  Lord  is 
the  Spirit :  and  where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty.  But 
we  all,  with  unveiled  face  reflecting  as  a  mirror  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  are  transformed  into  tte  same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  even 
as  from  the  Lord  the  Spirit."— 2  Cor.  iii.  12-iS  (R.V.). 

THE  "hope"  which  here  explains  the  Apostle's 
freedom  of  speech  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
the  same  as  the  "confidence"  in  ver.  4.^  It  is  much 
easier  to  suppose  that  the  word  is  thus  used  with  a 
certain  latitude,  as  it  might  be  in  English,  than  to  force 
upon  it  a  reference  to  the  glory  to  be  revealed  when 
Christ  comes  again,  and  to  give  the  same  future  re- 
ference to  "glory"  all  through  this  passage.  The 
new  covenant  is  present,  and  present  in  its  glory ;  and 
though  it  has  a  future,  with  which  the  Apostle's  hope 
is  bound  up,  it  is  not  in  view  of  its  future  only,  it  is 

'  In  the  LXX.  eXTris'w  is  often  used  as  the  rendering  of  n03,  con- 

fidere, 

127 


128     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

because  of  what  it  is  even  now,  that  he  is  so  grandly 
confident,  and  uses  such  boldness  of  speech.  It  is 
quite  fair  to  infer  from  chap.  iv.  3 — "  if  our  Gospel  is 
veiled,  it  is  veiled  in  those  that  are  perishing  " — that 
Paul's  opponents  at  Corinth  had  charged  him  with 
behaviour  of  another  kind.  They  had  accused  him 
of  making  a  mystery  of  his  Gospel — preaching  it  in 
such  a  fashion  that  no  one  could  really  see  it,  or 
understand  what  he  meant.  If  there  is  any  charge 
which  the  true  preacher  will  feel  keenly,  and  resent 
vehemently,  it  is  this.  It  is  his  first  duty  to  deliver 
his  message  with  a  plainness  that  defies  misunder- 
standing. He  is  sent  to  all  men  on  an  errand  of  life 
or  death ;  and  to  leave  any  man  wondering,  after  the 
message  has  been  delivered,  what  it  is  about,  is  the 
worst  sort  of  treachery.  It  belies  the  Gospel,  and 
God  who  is  its  author.  It  may  be  due  to  pride,  or 
to  a  misguided  intention  to  commend  the  Gospel  to 
the  wisdom  or  the  prejudices  of  men ;  but  it  is  never 
anything  else  than  a  fatal  mistake. 

Paul  not  only  resents  the  charge ;  he  feels  it  so 
acutely  that  he  finds  an  ingenious  way  of  retorting  it. 
''We,"  he  says,  '*  the  ministers  of  the  new  covenant,  we 
who  preach  life,  righteousness,  and  everlasting  glory, 
have  nothing  to  hide  ;  we  wish  every  one  to  know 
everything  about  the  dispensation  which  we  serve.  It 
is  the  representatives  of  the  old  who  are  really  open 
to  the  charge  of  using  concealment ;  the  first  and  the 
greatest  of  them  all,  Moses  himself,  put  a  veil  on  his 
face,  that  ^  the  children  of  Israel  should  not  look  sted- 


*  Attempts  have  been  made  to  render  Trpos  to  fir]  drevlaaL  other- 
wise:  e.g.,  irph^  has  been  taken  as  in  Matt.  xix.  8,  which  would 
give  the  meaning,   "considering  that  the  children  of  Israel  did  not 


iii.  12-iS.]  THE   TRANSFIGURING  SPIRIT  1^9 

fastly  on  the  end  of  that  which  was  passing  away. 
The  glory  on  his  face  was  a  fading  glory,  because  it 
was  the  glory  of  a  temporary  dispensation  ;  but  he 
did  not  wish  the  Israelites  to  see  clearly  that  it  was 
destined  to  disappear;  so  he  veiled  his  face,  and  left 
them  to  think  the  law  a  permanent  divine  institution." 

Perhaps  the  best  thing  to  do  with  this  singular 
interpretation  is  not  to  take  it  too  seriously.  Even 
sober  expositors  like  Chrysostom  and  Calvin  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  argue  gravely  that  the  Apostle 
is  not  accusing  the  law,  or  saying  anything  insulting  of 
Moses ;  while  Schmiedel,  on  the  other  hand,  insists 
that  a  grave  moral  charge  is  made  against  Moses,  and 
that  Paul  most  unjustly  uses  the  Old  Testament,  in 
its  own  despite,  to  prove  its  own  transitoriness.  I 
believe  it  would  be  far  truer  to  say  that  the  character 
of  Moses  never  crossed  Paul's  mind  in  the  whole 
passage,  for  better  or  worse  ;  he  only  remembered,  as 
he  smarted  under  the  accusation  of  veiling  his  Gospel 
of  the  new  covenant,  a  certain  transaction  under  the 
old  covenant  in  which  a  veil  did  figure — a  transaction 
which  a  Rabbinical  interpretation,  whimsical  indeed  to 
us,  but  provoking  if  not  convincing  to  his  adversaries, 
enabled  him  to  turn  against  them.  As  for  proving 
the  transitoriness  of  the  Old  Testament  by  a  forced  and 
illegitimate  argument,  that  transitoriness  was  abund- 
antly established  to  Paul,  as  it  is  to  us,  on  real  grounds  ; 
nothing  whatever  depends  on  what  is  here  said  of 
Moses  and  the  veil.  It  is  not  necessary,  if  we  take 
this  view,  to  go  into  the  historical  interpretation  of  the 


look  on,"  etc.  Moses  would  thus  veil  himself  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
they  did  not  see  :  the  veil  would  be  the  symbol  of  the  judicial  blind- 
ness which  was  henceforth  to  fall  on  them. 

9 


130     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

passage  in  Exod.  xxxiv.  29-35.  The  comparison  of  the 
Apostle  with  the  Old  Testament  writer  has  been  made 
more  difficult  for  the  English  reader  by  the  serious 
error  in  the  Authorised  Version  of  Exod.  xxxiv.  33. 
Instead  of  ^^  till  Moses  had  done  speaking  with  them," 
we  ought  to  read,  as  in  the  Revised  Version,  "  when 
Moses  had  done  speaking."  This  exactly  reverses  the 
meaning.  Moses  spoke  to  the  people  with  face  bare 
and  radiant ;  the  glory  was  to  be  visible  at  least  in  his 
official  intercourse  with  them,  or  whenever  he  spoke  for 
God.  At  other  times  he  wore  the  veil,  putting  it  off, 
however,  when  he  went  into  the  tabernacle — that  is, 
whenever  he  spoke  with  God.  In  all  divine  relations, 
then,  we  should  naturally  infer,  there  was  to  be  the  open 
and  shining  face  ;  in  other  words,  so  far  as  he  acted  as 
mediator  of  the  old  covenant,  Moses  really  acted  in  the 
spirit  of  Paul.  It  would  therefore  have  been  unjust  in 
the  Apostle  to  charge  him  with  hiding  anything,  if  the 
charge  had  really  meant  more  than  this — that  Paul  saw 
in  his  use  of  the  veil  a  symbol  of  the  fact  that  the 
children  of  Israel  did  not  see  that  the  old  covenant 
was  transitory,  and  that  its  glory  was  to  be  lost  in  that 
of  the  new.  No  one  can  deny  that  this  was  the  fact, 
and  no  one  therefore  need  be  exercised  if  Paul  pictured 
it  in  the  manner  of  his  own  time  and  race,  and  not  in 
the  manner  of  ours.  To  suppose  that  he  means  to 
charge  Moses  with  a  deliberate  act  of  dishonesty  is  to 
suppose  what  no  sensible  person  will  ever  credit ;  and 
we  may  return,  without  more  ado,  to  the  painful 
situation  which  he  contemplates. 

Their  minds  were  hardened.  This  is  stated  historic- 
ally, and  seems  to  refer  in  the  first  instance  to  those 
who  watched  Moses  put  on  the  veil,  and  became 
insensible,    as   he   did   so,    to   the  nature    of  the  old 


iii.  12-iS.]  THE   TRANSFIGURING  SPIRIT  131 

covenant.  But  it  is  applicable  to  the  Jewish  race 
at  all  periods  of  their  history  ;  they  never  discovered 
the  secret  which  Moses  hid  from  their  forefathers 
beneath  the  veil.  The  only  result  that  followed  the 
labours  even  of  great  prophets  like  Isaiah  had  been 
the  deepening  of  the  darkness  ;  having  eyes  the  people 
saw  not,  having  ears  they  heard  not ;  their  heart  was 
fat  and  heavy,  so  that  they  did  not  apprehend  the  ways 
of  God  nor  turn  to  Him.  All  around  him  the  Apostle 
saw  the  melancholy  evidence  that  there  had  been  no 
change  for  the  better.  Until  this  day  the  same  veil 
remains,  when  the  Old  Testament  is  read,^  not  taken 
away ;  for  it  is  only  undone  in  Christ,  and  of  Christ 
they  will  know  nothing.  He  repeats  the  sad  statement, 
varying  it  slightly  to  indicate  that  the  responsibility 
for  a  condition  so  blind  and  dreary  rests  not  with  the 
old  covenant  itself,  but  with  those  who  live  under  it. 
"  Until  this  day,  I  say,  whensoever  Moses  is  read,  a 
veil  lies  upon  their  heart." 

This  witness,  we  must  acknowledge,  is  almost  as 
true  in  the  nineteenth  century  as  in  the  first.  The 
Jews  still  exist  as  a  race  and  a  sect,  acknowledging 
the  Old  Testament  as  a  revelation  from  God,  basing 
their  religion  upon  it,  keeping  their  ancient  law  so  far 
as  circumstances  enable  them  to  keep  it,  not  convinced 
that  as  a  rehgious  constitution  it  has  been  superseded 
by  a  new  one.  Many  of  them,  indeed,  have  abandoned 
it  without  becoming  Christians.  But  in  so  doing  they 
have  become  secularists ;  they  have  not  appreciated  the 
old  covenant  to  the  full,  and  then  outgrown  it ;  they 

'  I  cannot  suppose  that  eVt  rrj  avayvihaei.  ttJs  it.  diadrjKrjs  means 
anything  different  from  TjviKa  Slv  dv ay ivuaKrjrai,  'Mcjvarjs.  It  conveys 
no  sense,  that  I  can  see,  to  say  that  there  are  two  veils,  one  upon  the 
reading,  and  another  upon  the  heart.     Yet  many  take  it  so. 


132     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

have  been  led  for  various  reasons  to  deny  that  there 
ever  was  anything  divine  in  it,  and  have  renounced 
together  its  discipHne  and  its  hopes.  Only  where  the 
knowledge  of  the  Christ  has  been  received  is  the  veil 
which  lies  upon  their  hearts  taken  away;  they  can 
then  appreciate  both  all  the  virtues  of  the  ancient 
dispensation  and  all  its  defects ;  they  can  glorify  God 
for  what  it  was  and  for  what  it  shut  them  up  to  ;  they 
can  see  that  in  all  its  parts  it  had  a  reference  to 
something  lying  beyond  itself — to  a  **new  thing"  that 
God  would  do  for  His  people  ;  and  in  welcoming  the 
new  covenant,  and  its  Mediator  Jesus  Christ,  they 
can  feel  that  they  are  not  making  void,  but  establishing, 
the  law. 

This  is  their  hope,  and  to  this  the  Apostle  looks  in 
ver.  i6  :  "  But  whensoever  it  shall  turn  to  the  Lord, 
the  veil  is  taken  away."  The  Greek  expression  of  this 
passage  is  so  closely  modelled  on  that  of  Exod.  xxxiv.  34, 
that  Westcott  and  Hort  print  it  as  a  quotation.  Moses 
evidently  is  still  in  the  Apostle's  mind.  The  veiling 
of  his  face  symbolised  the  nation's  blindness ;  the 
nation's  hope  is  to  be  seen  in  that  action  in  which 
Moses  was  unveiled.  He  uncovered  his  face  when  he 
turned  from  the  people  to  speak  to  God.  "  Even  so," 
says  the  Apostle,  ''  when  they  turn  to  the  Lord,  the  veil 
of  which  we  have  been  speaking  is  taken  away,^  and 
they  see  clearly."^      One  can  hardly  avoid  feeling  in 

^  The  present,  where  we  might  expect  the  future,  conveys  the 
certainty  and  decisiveness  of  the  result. 

2  The  subject  of  the  verb  eTrtcrrpei/'T?  ("  turn  ")  is  not  in  point  of 
grammar  very  clear.  It  may  be  Israel,  or  the  heart  on  which  a  veil 
lies,  or  any  one,  taken  indefinitely.  Practically,  the  application  is 
limited  to  those  who  live  under  the  old  covenant,  and  j^et  have  its 
nature  hidden  from  them.  Hence  it  is  fair  to  render,  as  I  have  done, 
"  when  they  turn  to  the  Lord." 


iii.  12-18.]  THE   TRANSFIGURING  SPIRIT  133 

this  a  reminiscence  of  the  Apostle's  own  conversion. 
He  is  thinking  not  only  of  the  unveiling  of  Moses,  but 
of  the  scales  which  fell  from  liis  own  eyes  when  he 
was  baptised  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  was  filled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  saw  the  old  covenant  and  its 
glory  lost  and  fulfilled  in  the  new.  He  knew  how 
stupendous  was  the  change  involved  here  ;  it  meant 
a  revolution  in  the  whole  constitution  of  the  Jews' 
spiritual  world  as  vast  as  that  which  was  wrought 
in  the  natural  world  when  the  sun  supplanted  the 
earth  as  the  centre  of  our  system.  But  the  gain 
was  corresponding.  The  soul  was  delivered  from  an 
impasse.  Under  the  old  covenant,  as  bitter  experi- 
ence had  shown  him,  the  religious  life  had  come  to 
a  dead-lock  ;  the  conscience  was  confronted  with  a 
torturing,  and  in  its  very  nature  insoluble,  problem  : 
man,  burdened  and  enslaved  by  sin,  was  required  to 
attain  to  a  righteousness  which  should  please  God. 
The  contradictions  of  this  position  were  solved,  its 
mystery  was  abolished,  when  the  soul  turned  to  the 
Lord,  and  appropriated  by  faith  the  righteousness  and 
life  of  God  in  him.  The  old  covenant  found  its  place, 
an  intelligible  and  worthy  though  subordinate  place, 
in  the  grand  programme  of  redemption ;  the  strife 
between  the  soul  and  God,  between  the  soul  and  the 
conditions  of  existence,  ceased  ;  life  opened  out  again  ; 
there  was  a  large  room  to  move  in,  an  inspiring  power 
within ;  in  one  word,  there  was  spiritual  life  and 
liberty,  and  Christ  was  the  author  of  it  all. 

This  is  the  force  of  the  seventeenth  verse  :  **  Now  the 
Lord  is  the  Spirit :  and  where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is, 
there  is  liberty."  The  Lord,  of  course,  is  Christ,  and 
the  Spirit  is  that  of  which  Paul  has  already  spoken  in 
the  sixth  verse.     It  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Lord  and 


134     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

Giver  of  life  under  the  new  covenant.  He  who  turns 
to  Christ  receives  this  Spirit ;  it  is  through  it  that 
Christ  dwells  in  His  people  ;  what  are  called  "  fruits 
of  the  Spirit  "  are  traits  of  Christ's  own  character  which 
the  Spirit  produces  in  the  saints ;  practically,  therefore, 
the  two  may  be  identified,  and  hence  the  expression 
"the  Lord  is  the  Spirit,"  though  startling  at  first  sight, 
is  not  improper,  and  ought  not  to  mislead.^  It  is  a 
mistake  to  connect  it  with  such  passages  as  Rom.  i.  4, 
and  to  draw  inferences  from  it  as  to  Paul's  conception 
of  the  person  of  Christ.  He  does  not  say  "the  Lord 
is  spirit,"  but  *'  the  Lord  is  the  Spirit  "  ;  what  is  in  \'iew 
is  not  the  person  of  Christ  so  much  as  His  power. 
To  identify  the  Lord  and  the  Spirit  without  qualifica- 
tion, in  the  face  of  the  benediction  in  chap.  xiii.  14, 
is  out  of  the  question.  The  truth  of  the  passage  is  the 
same  as  that  of  Rom.  viii.  9  ft'.:  '*  If  any  man  have  not 
the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His.  And  if  Christ 
is  in  you,''  etc.  Here,  so  far  as  the  practical  experience 
of  Christians  goes,  no  distinction  is  made  between  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  and  Christ  Himself;  Christ  dwells  in 
Christians  through  His  Spirit.  The  very  same  truth, 
as  is  well  known,  pervades  the  chapters  in  the  Fourth 
Gospel  in  which  Christ  consoles  His  disciples  for  His 
departure  from  this  world ;  He  will  not  leave  them 
01-phans — He  will  come  to  them,  and  remain  ^rith  them 
in  the  other  Comforter.  To  turn  to  Christ,  the  Apostle 
wishes  to  assert  with  the  utmost  emphasis,  is  not  to 
do  a  thing  which  has  no  \-irtue  and  no  consequences ; 
it  is  to  turn  to  one  who  has  received  of  the  Father  the 

*  The  peculiarity  of  the  passage  has  given  occasion  to  conjectures, 
of  which  by  far  the  most  ingenious  is  Baljon's  :  05  5e  6  Kr/xos,  rb 
Ib^ev/xa  €<my,  ab  5e  to  nKei>a  Kvpiov,  iXevdepia  :  "  Where  the  Lord  is, 
the  Spirit  is  ;  and  where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty-  "^ 


iii.  12-iS.]  THE   TRA.\SFJGURL\G  SPIRIT  135 

gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  who  immediately  sets  up 
the  new  spiritual  life,  which  is  nothing  less  than  His 
own  life,  by  that  Spirit,  in  the  believing  soul.  And 
summing  up  in  one  word  the  grand  characteristic  and 
distinction  of  the  new  covenant,  as  realised  by  this 
indwelling  of  Christ  through  His  Spirit,  he  concludes  : 
"  And  where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty." 
In  the  interpretation  of  the  last  word,  we  must  have 
respect  to  the  context ;  liberty  has  its  meaning  in 
contrast  with  that  state  to  which  the  old  covenant 
had  reduced  those  who  adhered  to  it  It  means  freedom 
from  the  law  ;  freedom,  fundamentally,  from  its  con- 
demnation, thanks  to  the  gift  of  righteousness  in 
Christ;  freedom,  also,  from  its  letter,  as  something 
simply  without  us  and  over  against  us.  No  \s'ritten 
word,  as  such,  can  ever  be  pleaded  against  the  voice 
of  the  Spirit  within.  Even  the  words  we  call  in  an 
eminent  sense  "inspired,"  words  of  the  Spirit,  are 
subject  to  this  lav.- :  the}'  do  not  put  a  limit  to  the 
liberty  of  the  spiritual  man.  He  can  overrule  the 
letter  of  them  when  the  literal  interpretation  or  applica- 
tion would  contravene  the  spirit  which  is  common  both 
to  them  and  him.  This  principle  is  capable  of  being 
abused,  no  doubt,  and  b}'  bad  men  and  fanatics  has 
been  abused ;  but  its  worst  abuses  can  hardl}*  have 
done  more  harm  than  the  pedantic  word-worship  which 
has  often  lost  the  soul  even  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  read  the  words  of  the  Lord  and  His  Apostles  with 
a  veil  upon  its  face  through  which  nothing  could  be 
seen.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  an  unspiritual  scrupu- 
losity in  dealing  with  the  New  Testament,  now  that 
we  have  it  in  documentary'  form,  just  as  there  used  to 
be  in  dealing  with  the  Old  ;  and  we  ought  to  remind 
ourselves  continually'  that  the  documentar}-  form  is  an 


136     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

accident,  not  an  essential,  of  the  new  covenant.  That 
covenant  existed,  and  men  Hved  under  it  and  enjoyed 
its  blessings,  before  it  had  any  written  documents  at 
all ;  and  we  shall  not  appreciate  its  characteristics,  and 
especially  this  one  of  its  spiritual  freedom,  unless 
we  put  ourselves  occasionally,  in  imagination,  in  their 
place.  It  is  far  easier  to  make  Paul  mean  too  little 
than  too  much  ;  and  the  liberty  of  the  Spirit  in  which 
he  exults  here  covers,  we  may  be  sure,  not  only  liberty 
from  condemnation,  and  liberty  from  the  unspiritual 
yoke  of  the  ritual  law,  but  liberty  from  all  that  is  in 
its  nature  statutory,  liberty  to  organise  the  new  life, 
and  to  legislate  for  it,  from  within. 

The  bearing  of  this  passage  on  the  religious  blind- 
ness of  the  Jews  ought  not  to  hide  from  us  its  per- 
manent application.  The  religious  insensibihty  of  his 
countrymen  will  cease,  Paul  says ;  their  religious 
perplexities  will  be  solved,  when  they  turn  to  Christ. 
This  is  the  beginning  of  all  intelligence,  of  all  freedom, 
of  all  hope,  in  things  spiritual.  Much  of  the  religious 
doubt  and  confusion  of  our  own  times  is  due  to  the  pre- 
occupation of  men's  minds  with  religion  at  points  from 
which  Christ  is  invisible.  But  it  is  He  who  is  the 
key  to  all  human  experiences  as  well  as  to  the  Old 
Testament ;  it  is  He  who  answers  the  questions  of  the 
world  as  well  as  the  questions  of  the  Jews ;  it  is  He 
who  takes  our  feet  out  of  the  net,  opens  the  gate  of 
righteousness  before  us,  and  gives  us  spiritual  freedom. 
It  is  like  finding  a  pearl  of  great  price  when  the  soul 
discovers  this,  and  to  point  it  out  to  others  is  to  do 
them  a  priceless  service.  Disregard  everything  else  in 
the  meantime,  if  you  are  bewildered,  baffled,  in  bonds 
which  you  cannot  break ;  turn  to  Jesus  Christ,  as 
Moses  turned  to  God,  with  face  uncovered ;  put  down 


iii.  12-iS.]  THE   TRANSFIGURING  SPIRIT  137 

prejudice,  preconceptions,  pride,  the  disposition  to  make 
demands;  only  look  stcdfastly  till  you  sec  what  He 
is,  and  all  that  perplexes  you  will  pass  away,  or  appear 
in  a  new  light,  and  serve  a  new  and  spiritual  purpose. 

Something  like  this  larger  application  of  his  words 
passed,  we  may  suppose,  before  the  Apostle's  mind 
when  he  wTOte  the  eighteenth  verse.  In  the  grandeur 
of  the  truth  which  rises  upon  him  he  forgets  his  con- 
troversy and  becomes  a  poet.  We  breathe  the  ampler 
ether,  the  diviner  air,  as  we  read  :  "  But  we  all,  with 
unveiled  face  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  are  transformed  into  the  same  image  from  glory 
to  glory,  even  as  from  the  Lord  the  Spirit."  I  have  kept 
here  for  KaroiTTpi^oiJLevoi  the  rendering  of  the  Authorised 
Version,  which  in  the  Revised  has  been  relegated  to 
the  margin,  and  replaced  by  ''  reflecting  as  a  mirror." 
There  do  not  seem  to  be  sufficient  grounds  for  the 
change,  and  the  old  translation  is  defended  in  Grimm's 
Lexicon,  in  Winer's  Grammar,  and  by  Meyer,  Heinrici, 
and  Beet.  The  active  voice  of  the  verb  KaroTTTpi^co 
means  "to  exhibit  in  a  mirror";  and  the  middle,  "to 
mirror  oneself" — i.e.,  "  to  look  at  oneself  in  a  mirror." 
This,  at  least,  is  the  sense  of  most  of  the  examples  of 
the  middle  which  are  found  in  Greek  writers  ;  but  as 
it  is  quite  inapplicable  here,  the  question  of  interpreta- 
tion becomes  rather  difficult.  It  is,  how^ever,  in  accord- 
ance with  analogy  to  say  that  if  the  active  means  "  to 
show  in  a  mirror,"  the  middle  means  "  to  get  shown  to 
one  in  a  mirror,"  or,  as  the  Authorised  Version  puts  it, 
"  to  behold  in  a  mirror."  I  cannot  make  out  that  any 
analogy  favours  the  new  rendering,  "  reflecting  as  a 
mirror";  and  the  authority  of  Chrysostom,  which 
would  otherwise  be  considerable  on  this  side,  is  less- 
ened by  the  fact  that  he  seems  never  to  have  raised 


138     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

the  question,  and  in  point  of  fact  combines  both  render- 
ings.^    His  illustration  of  the  polished  silver  lying  in 
the  sunshine,  and  sending  back  the  rays  which  strike 
it,   is  in   favour  of  the  change  ;   but  when   he  writes, 
"We  not  only  look  upon  the  glory  of  God,   but  also 
catch  thence   a  kind   of  radiance,"   he    may  fairly  be 
claimed  for  the  other  side.     There  are  two  reasons  also 
which  seem  to  me  to  have  great  weight  in  favour  of 
the  old  rendering :  first,  the  expression  "  with  unveiled 
face,"  which,  as  Meyer  remarks,  is  naturally  of  a  piece 
with  "  beholding  " ;  and,  second,  an  unequivocal  example 
of  the  middle  voice  of  KaroTrrpi^ofiai  in  the  sense  of 
'*  seeing,"  while  no  unequivocal  example  can  be  pro- 
duced   for    "  reflecting."      This    example    is    found    in 
Philo  i.    107  (Leg.  Alleg.^  iii.  33),  where  Moses  prays 
to  God  :  "  Show  not  Thyself  to  me  through  heaven  or 
earth,  or  water  or  air,  or  anything  at  all  that  comes 
into  being ;  nor  let  me  see  Thy  form  mirrored  in  any 
other  thing  than  in  Thee,  even  in  God  "  {Mr)he  Karoir- 
TpLaaLfM7]v  iv  aWw  nvl  rrjv  arjv  Iheav  rj  iv  aol  rw  ©€w). 
This  seems  to  me  decisive,  and  there  is  the  less  reason 
to  reject  it  on  other  than  linguistic  grounds,  when  we 
consider  that  the  idea  of '' reflecting,"  if  it  is  given  up 
in    KaroTTTpi^ofjievoi,   is    conserved   in  fjLeTafiop(j)ovfjLe6a. 
The  transformation  has  the  reflection  of  Christ's  glory 
for  its   effect,  not   for   its    cause ;    but   the   reflection, 
eventually,  is  there. 

Assuming,  then,  that  "  beholding  as  in  a  glass  "  is 
the  right  interpretation  of  this  hard  word,  let  us  go  on 
to  what  the  Apostle  says.  ''  We  all  "  probably  means 
"all  Christians,"  and  not  only  "  all  Christian  teachers." 

'  Horn.  vii.  on  2  Cor.,  p.  486,  E.  :  Ov  jxbvov  opQfKu  els  Tr\v  ho^av  toD 
OeoO,  dXXa  Kal  eKetdev  dexof^^dd  TLva  aiy\r]v. 


iii.  12-18.]  THE   TRANSFIGURING  SPIRIT  139 

If  there  is  a  comparison  implied,  it  is  between  the  two 
dispensations,  and  the  experiences  open  to  those  who 
lived  under  them,  not  between  the  mediator  of  the  old 
and  the  heralds  of  the  new.  Under  the  old  covenant 
one  only  saw  the  glory;  now  the  beatific  vision  is  open^ 
to  all.  We  all  behold  it  "with  unveiled  face."  There ^ 
is  nothing  on  Christ's  part  that  leads  to  disguise,  and 
nothing  on  ours  that  comes  between  us  and  Him. 
The  darkness  is  past,  the  true  light  already  shines,  and 
Christian  souls  cannot  look  on  it  too  fixedly,  or  drink 
it  in  to  excess.  But  what  is  meant  by  "the  glory  of; 
the  Lord  "  on  which  we  gaze  with  face  unveiled  ? 

It  will  not  be  questioned,  by  those  who  are  at  home 
in  St.  Paul's  thoughts,  that  "  the  Lord "  means  the 
exalted  Saviour,  and  that  the  glory  must  be  something 
which  belongs  to  Him.  Indeed,  if  we  remember  that  . 
in  the  First  Epistle,  chap.  ii.  8,  He  is  characteristically 
described  by  the  Apostle  as  "  the  Lord  of  glory,"  we 
shall  not  feel  it  too  much  to  say  that  the  glory  is  every- 
thing which  belongs  to  Him.  There  is  not  any  aspect 
of  the  exalted  Christ,  there  is  not  any  representation  of 
Him  in  the  Gospel,  there  is  not  any  function  which  He 
exercises,  that  does  not  come  under  this  head.  "  In 
His  temple  everything  saith  Glory  ! "  There  is  a  glory 
even  in  the  mode  of  His  existence  :  St.  Paul's  concep- 
tion of  Him  is  dominated  always  by  that  appearance 
on  the  way  to  Damascus,  when  he  saw  the  Christ 
through  a  light  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun.  It 
is  His  glory  that  He  shares  the  Father's  throne,*  that 
He  is  head  of  the  Church,  possessor  and  bestower  of 
all  the  fulness  of  divine  grace,  the  coming  Judge  of 
the  world,    conqueror    of    every  hostile  power,    inter- 

'  So  Meyer,  from  whom  the  particulars  in  this  sentence  arc  tiken. 


I40     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

cesser  for  His  own,  and,  in   short,  bearer  of  all   the 
majesty  which  belongs  to  His  kingly  office.     The  essen- 
tial thing  in  all  this — essential  to  the  understanding  of 
the  Apostle,  and  to  the  existence  of  the  apostolic  "  Gospel 
i  of  the  glory  of  Christ  ^^  (chap.  iv.  4) — is  that  the  glory  in 
!  question  is  the  glory  of  a  Living  Person.     When  Paul 
thinks  of  it,  he  does  not  look  back,  he  looks  up ;  he 
does  not  remember,  he  beholds  in  a  glass ;  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  has  no  meaning  for  him  apart  from   the 
present  exaltation   of  the   Risen  Christ.     "  The  Lord 
reigneth  ;  He  is  apparelled  with  majesty  " — that  is  the 
-  anthem  of  His  praise. 

I  have  insisted  on  this,  because,  in  a  certain  reaction 
from  what  was  perhaps  an  exaggerated  Paulinism,  there 
is  a  tendency  to  misapply  even  the  most  characteristic 
and  vital  passages  in  St.  Paul's  Gospel,  and  pre- 
eminently to  misapply  passages  like  this.  Nothing 
could  be  more  misleading  than  to  substitute  here  for 
the  glory  of  the  exalted  Christ  as  mirrored  in  the 
apostolic  Gospel  that  moral  beauty  which  was  seen  in 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Of  course  I  do  not  mean  to  deny 
that  the  moral  loveliness  of  Jesus  is  glorious  ;  nor  do 
I  question  that  in  the  contemplation  of  it  in  the  pages 
of  our  Gospels — subject  to  one  grand  condition — a  trans- 
forming power  is  exercised  through  it ;  but  I  do  deny 
that  any  such  thing  was  in  the  mind  of  St.  Paul.  The 
subject  of  the  Apostle's  Gospel  was  not  Jesus  the  car- 
penter of  Nazareth,  but  Christ  the  Lord  of  glory  ;  men, 
as  he  understood  the  matter,  were  saved,  not  by  dwell- 
ing on  the  wonderful  words  and  deeds  of  One  who 
had  lived  some  time  ago,  and  reviving  these  in  their 
imagination,  but  by  receiving  the  almighty,  emancipat- 
ing, quickening  Spirit  of  One  who  lived  and  reigned 
for  evermore.     The  transformation  here  spoken   of  is 


iii.  12-18.]  THE   TRANSFIGURING  SPIRIT  141 

not  the  work  of  a  powerful  imagination,  wliich  can  make 
the  figure  in  the  pages  of  the  Gospels  live  again,  and 
suffuse  the  soul  with  feeling  as  it  gazes  upon  it ;  preach 
this  as  gospel  who  will,  it  was  never  preached  by  an 
apostle  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  the  work  of  the  Spirit, 
and  the  Spirit  is  given,  not  to  the  memory  or  imagina- 
tion which  can  vivify  the  past,  but  to  the  faith  which 
sees  Christ  upon  His  throne.  AjicI  it  is  subject  to  the 
condition  of  faith  in  the  living  Christ  that  contemplation 
of  Jesus  in  the  Gospels  changes  us  into  the  same  image. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  at  the  present  time  many 
are  falling  back  upon  this  contemplation  in  a  despairing 
rather  than  a  believing  mood  ;  what  they  seek  and  find 
in  it  is  rather  a  poetic  consolation  than  religious  inspira- 
tion ;  their  faith  in  the  living  Christ  is  gone,  or  is  so 
uncertain  as  to  be  practically  of  no  saving  power,  and 
they  have  recourse  to  the  memory  of  what  Jesus  was 
as  at  least  something  to  cling  to.  "  We  thought  that 
it  had  been  He  which  should  have  delivered  Israel." 
But  surely  it  is  as  clear  as  day  that  in  religion — in  the 
matter  of  redemption — we  must  deal,  not  with  the  dead, 
but  with  the  Hving.  Paul  may  have  known  less  or 
more  of  the  contents  of  our  first  three  Gospels ;  he  may 
have  valued  them  more  or  less  adequately  ;  but  just 
because  he  had  been  saved  by  Christ,  and  was  preaching 
Christ  as  a  Saviour,  the  centre  of  his  thoughts  and 
affections  was  not  Galilee,  but  "  the  heavenlies."  There 
the  Lord  of  glory  reigned;  and  from  that  world  He 
sent  the  Spirit  which  changed  His  people  into  His 
image.  And  so  it  must  always  be,  if  Christianity  is  to 
be  a  living  religion.  Leave  out  this,  and  not  only  is 
the  Pauline  Gospel  lost,  but  everything  is  lost  which 
could  be  called  Gospel  in  the  New  Testament. 

The  Lord  of  glory,  Paul  teaches  here,  is  the  pattern 


142     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

and  prophecy  of  a  glory  to  be  revealed  in  us  ;  and  as 
we  contemplate  Him  in  the  mirror  of  the  Gospel/  we 
are  gradually  transformed  into  the  same  image,  even  as 
by  the  Lord  the  Spirit.  The  transformation,  these  last 
words  again  teach,  is  not  accomplished  by  beholding, 
but  while  we  behold ;  it  does  not  depend  on  the 
vividness  with  which  we  can  imagine    the  past,   but 

Jon  the  present  power  of  Christ  working  in  us.  The 
result  is  such  as  befits  the  operation  of  such  a  power. 
We  are  changed  into  the  image  of  Him  from  v/hom 
it  proceeds.  We  are  made  like  Himself.  It  may  seem 
far  more  natural  to  say  that  the  believer  is  made  like 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  than  that  he  is  made  like  the  Lord 
of  glory ;  but  that  does  not  entitle  us  to  shift  the  centre 
of  gravity  in  the  Apostle's  teaching,  and  it  only  tempts 
us  to  ignore  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  enviable 

j  characteristics    of  the   New   Testament    religious    life. 

1  Christ  is  on  His  throne,  and  His  people  are  exalted  and 
victorious  in  Him.  When  we  forget  Christ's  exaltation 
in  our  study  of  His  earthly  life — when  we  are  so  pre- 
occupied, it  may  even  be  so  fascinated,  with  what  He 
was,  that  we  forget  what  He  is — when,  in  other  words, 
a  pious  historical  imagination  takes  the  place  of  a 
living  religious  faith — that  victorious  consciousness  is  lost, 
and  in  a  most  essential  point  the  image  of  the  Lord 
is  not  reproduced  in  the  believer.  This  is  why  the 
Pauline  point  of  view — if  indeed  it  is  to  be  called 
Pauline,  and  not  simply  Christian — is  essential.  Christi- 
anity is  a  religion,  not  merely  a  history,  though  it 
should  be  the  history  told  by  Matthew,  Mark,  and 
Luke ;    and   the    chance    of  having   the    history   itself 


'  The  idea  of  the  mirror  is  not  to  be  omitted,  as  of  no  consequence. 
It  is  essential  to  the  figure  :  "we  see  not  yet  face  to  face." 


12-18.]  THE  TRANSFIGURING  SPIRIT  143 


appreciated  for  religion  is  that  lie  who  is  its  subject 
shall  be  contemplated,  not  in  the  dim  distance  of  the 
past,  but  in  the  glory  of  His  heavenly  reign,  and  that 
He  shall  be  recognised,  not  merely  as  one  who  lived 
a  perfect  life  in  His  own  generation,  but  as  the  Giver 
of  life  eternal  by  His  Spirit  to  all  who  turn  to  Him. 
The  Church  will  always  be  justified,  while  recognis- 
ing that  Christianity  is  a  historical  religion,  in  giving 
prominence,  not  to  its  historicity,  but  to  what  makes 
it  a  religion  at  all — namely,  the  present  exaltation  of 
Christ.  This  involves  everything,  and  determines,  as 
St.  Paul  tells  us  here,  the  very  form  and  spirit  of  her 
own  life. 


XI 

THE  GOSPEL  DEFINED 

"Therefore  seeing  we  have  this  ministry,  even  as  we  obtained 
mercy,  we  faint  not :  but  we  have  renounced  the  hidden  things  of 
shame,  not  walking  in  craftiness,  nor  handling  the  Word  of  God 
deceitfully;  but  by  the  manifestation  of  the  truth  commending  our- 
selves to  every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God.  But  and  if  our 
Gospel  is  veiled,  it  is  veiled  in  them  that  are  perishing :  in  whom  the 
god  of  this  world  hath  blinded  the  minds  of  the  unbelieving,  that  the 
light  of  the  Gospel  of  the  glory  of  Christ,  who  is  the  image  of  God, 
should  not  dawn  upon  them.  For  we  preach  not  ourselves,  but 
Christ  Jesus  as  Lord,  and  ourselves  as  your  servants  for  Jesus'  sake. 
Seeing  it  is  God,  that  said,  Light  shall  shine  out  of  darkness,  who 
shined  in  our  hearts,  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory 
of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ." — 2  Cor.  iv.  1-6  (R.V.). 

IN  this  paragraph  Paul  resumes  for  the  last  time 
the  line  of  thought  on  which  he  had  set  out  at 
chap.  iii.  4,  and  again  at  chap.  iii.  12.  Twice  he  has 
allowed  himself  to  be  carried  away  into  digressions,  not 
less  interesting  than  his  argument;  but  now  he  pro- 
ceeds without  further  interruption.  His  subject  is  the 
New  Testament  ministry,  and  his  own  conduct  as  a 
minister. 

"Seeing  we  have  this  ministr}^,"  he  writes,  ''even  as 
we  obtained  mercy,  we  faint  not."  The  whole  tone  of 
the  passage  is  to  be  triumphant ;  above  the  common  joy 
of  the  New  Testament  it  rises,  at  the  close  (ver.  16  ff.), 
into  a  kind  of  solemn  rapture ;  and  it  is  characteristic 
of  the  Apostle  that  before  he  abandons  himself  to  the 

144 


1-6.]  THE  GOSPEL  DEFINED  145 


swelling  tide  of  exultation,  he  guards  it  all  with  the 
words,  '*  even  as  we  obtained  mercy."  There  was 
nothing  so  deep  down  in  Paul's  soul,  nothing  so  con- 
stantly present  to  his  thoughts,  as  this  great  experience. 
No  flood  of  emotion,  no  pressure  of  trial,  no  necessity 
of  conflict,  ever  drove  him  from  his  moorings  here. 
The  mercy  of  God  underlay  his  whole  being ;  it  kept 
him  humble  even  when  he  boasted ;  even  when  engaged 
in  defending  his  character  against  false  accusations — 
a  peculiarly  trying  situation — it  kept  him  truly  Christian 
in  spirit. 

The  words  may  be  connected  equally  well,  so  far  as 
either  meaning  or  grammar  is  concerned,  with  what 
precedes,  or  with  what  follows.  It  was  a  signal  proof 
of  God's  mercy  that  He  had  entrusted  Paul  with  the 
ministry  of  the  Gospel ;  and  it  was  only  what  we  should 
expect,  when  one  who  had  obtained  such  mercy  turned 
out  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  able  to  endure  hard- 
ship and  not  faint.  Those  to  whom  little  is  forgiven, 
Jesus  Himself  tells  us,  love  little ;  it  is  not  in  them  for 
Jesus'  sake  to  bear  all  things,  believe  all  things,  hope 
all  things,  endure  all  things.  They  faint  easily,  and 
are  overborne  by  petty  trials,  because  they  have  not 
in  them  that  fountain  of  brave  patience — a  deep  abiding- 
sense  of  what  they  owe  to  Christ,  and  can  never,  by 
any  length  or  ardour  of  service,  repay.  It  accuses  us, 
not  so  much  of  human  weakness,  as  of  ingratitude,  and 
insensibility  to  the  mercy  of  God,  when  we  faint  in  the 
exercise  of  our  ministry. 

'*We  faint  not,"  says  Paul  :  "we  show  no  weakness. 
On  the  contrary,  we  have  renounced  the  hidden  things 
of  shame,  not  walking  in  craftiness,  nor  handling  the 
Word  of  God  deceitfully."  The  contrast  marked  by 
aWa  is  very  instructive  :  it  shows,  in  the  things  which 

10 


146     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

Paul  had  renounced,  whither  weakness  leads.  It  betrays 
men.  It  compels  them  to  have  recourse  to  arts  which 
shame  bids  them  conceal ;  they  become  diplomatists 
and  strategists,  rather  than  heralds  ;  they  manipulate 
their  message ;  they  adapt  it  to  the  spirit  of  the  time, 
or  the  prejudices  of  their  auditors ;  they  make  liberal 
use  of  the  principle  of  accommodation.  When  these 
arts  are  looked  at  closely,  they  come  to  this  :  the 
minister  has  contrived  to  put  something  of  his  own 
between  his  hearers  and  the  Gospel ;  the  message  has 
really  not  been  declared.  His  intention,  of  course, 
with  all  this  artifice,  is  to  recommend  himself  to  men  ; 
but  the  method  is  radically  vicious.  The  Apostle 
shows  us  a  more  excellent  way.  "We  have  renounced," 
he  says,  "all  these  weak  ingenuities;  and  by  manifesta- 
tion of  the  truth  commend  ourselves  to  every  man's 
conscience  in  the  sight  of  God."^ 

This  is  probably  the  simplest  and  most  complete 
directory  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  The 
preacher  is  to  make  the  truth  manifest.  It  is  implied 
in  what  has  just  been  said,  that  one  great  hindrance 
to  its  manifestation  may  easily  be  its  treatment  by  the 
preacher  himself.  If  he  wishes  to  do  anything  else  at 
the  same  time,  the  manifestation  will  not  take  effect. 
If  he  wishes,  in  the  very  act  of  preaching,  to  conciliate 

'  Expositors  seem  to  be  agreed  that  in  this  passage  there  is  a 
reference,  more  or  less  definite  and  particular,  to  the  Judaising 
opponents  of  St.  Paul  at  Corinth.  This  may  be  admitted,  but  is  not 
to  be  forced.  It  is  forced,  e.g.,  by  Schmiedel,  who  habitually  reads 
St.  Paul  as  if  (i)  he  had  been  expressly  accused  of  everything  which 
he  says  he  does  not  do,  and  (2)  as  if  he  deliberately  retorted  on  his 
opponents  every  charge  he  denied.  Press  this  as  he  does,  and  whole 
passages  of  the  Epistles  become  a  series  of  covert  insinuations — a 
kind  of  calumnious  conundrums — instead  of  frank  and  bona  fide  state- 
ments of  Christian  principle.     The  result  condemns  the  process. 


iv.  1-6.]  THE  GOSPEL  DEFINED  1 47 

a  class,  or  an  interest ;  to  create  an  opinion  in  favour 
of  his  own  learning,  ability,  or  eloquence;  to  enlist 
sympathy  for  a  cause  or  an  institution  which  is  only 
accidentally  connected  with  the  Gospel, — the  truth  will 
not  be  seen,  and  it  will  not  tell.  The  truth,  we  are 
further  taught  here,  makes  its  appeal  to  the  conscience ; 
it  is  there  that  God's  witness  in  its  favour  resides. 
Now,  the  conscience  is  the  moral  nature  of  man,  or 
the  moral  element  in  his  nature ;  it  is  this,  therefore, 
which  the  preacher  has  to  address.  Does  not  this 
involve  a  certain  directness  and  simplicity  of  method, 
a  certain  plainness  and  urgency  also,  which  it  is  far 
easier  to  miss  than  to  find?  Conscience  is  not  the 
abstract  logical  faculty  in  man,  and  the  preacher's 
business  is  therefore  not  to  prove,  but  to  proclaim, 
the  Gospel.  All  he  has  to  do  is  to  let  it  be  seen,  and 
the  more  nakedly  visible  it  is  the  better.  His  object 
is  not  to  frame  an  irrefragable  argument,  but  to  pro- 
duce an  irresistible  impression.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  an  argument  to  which  it  is  impossible  for  a 
wilful  man  to  make  objections  ;  at  least  there  is  no 
such  thing  in  the  sphere  of  Christian  truth.  Even  if 
there  were,  men  would  object  to  it  on  that  very  ground. 
They  would  say  that,  in  matters  of  this  description, 
when  logic  went  too  far,  it  amounted  to  moral  intimida- 
tion, and  that  in  the  interests  of  liberty  they  were 
entitled  to  protest  against  it.  Practically,  this  is  what 
Voltaire  said  of  Pascal.^  But  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
an  irresistible  impression, — an  impression  made  upon 
the  moral  nature  against  which  it  is  vain  to  attempt 
any  protest ;  an  impression,  which  subdues  and  holds 
the  soul  for  ever.     When  the  truth  is  manifested,  and 

'  "II  voulut  se  servir  de  la  superiorite  dc  ce  genie,  comme  Ics  rois  de 
leur  puissance ;  11  crut  tout  soumettre,  et  tout  abaisser  par  la  force." 


148     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

men  see  it,  this  is  the  effect  to  be  looked  for  ;  this, 
consequently,  is  the  preacher's  aim.  In  the  sight  of 
God — that  is,  acting  with  absolute  sincerity — Paul 
trusted  to  this  simple  method  to  recommend  himself 
to  men.  He  brought  no  letters  of  introduction  from 
others ;  he  had  no  artifices  of  his  own ;  he  held  up  the 
truth  in  its  unadorned  integrity  till  it  told  upon  the 
conscience  of  his  hearers  ;  and  after  that,  he  needed 
no  other  witness.  The  same  conversions  which 
accredited  the  power  of  the  message  accredited  the 
character  of  him  who  bore  it. 

To  this  line  of  argument  there  is  a  very  obvious 
reply.  What,  it  may  be  asked,  of  those  on  whom  ''the 
manifestation  of  the  truth  "  produces  no  effect  ?  What 
of  those  who  in  spite  of  all  this  plain  appeal  to  con- 
science neither  see  nor  feel  anything  ?  It  is  sadly 
obvious  that  this  is  no  mere  supposition  ;  the  Gospel 
remains  a  secret,  an  impotent  ineffective  secret,  to 
many  who  hear  it  again  and  again.  Paul  faces  the 
difficulty  without  flinching,  though  the  answer  is 
appalling.  "  If  our  Gospel  is  veiled  (and  the  melan- 
choly fact  cannot  he  denied),  it  is  veiled  in  the  case 
of  the  perishing."  The  fact  that  it  remains  hidden 
from  some  men  is  their  condemnation ;  it  marks  them 
out  as  persons  on  the  way  to  destruction.  The  Apostle 
proceeds  to  explain  himself  further.  As  far  as  the 
rationale  can  be  given  of  what  is  finally  irrational,  he 
interprets  the  moral  situation  for  us.  The  perishing 
people  in  question  are  unbelievers,  whose  thoughts, 
or  minds,   the  god   of  this  world   has   blinded.^     The 

*  Grammarians  differ  much  as  to  the  relation  of  tCov  airiaTUv 
("which  beHeve  not")  to  eV  oh  ("in  whom").  I  have  no  doubt  they  are 
the  same.  The  natural  way  for  the  Apostle  to  express  himself  would 
have  been :   "it  is  veiled  in  them  that  are  perishing,  whose  minds  the 


iv.  1-6.]  THE  GOSPEL  DEFINED  149 

intention  of  this  blinding  is  conveyed  in  the  last  words 
of  ver.  4  :  "  that  the  illumination  which  proceeds  from 
the  Gospel,  the  Gospel  of  the  glory  of  Christ,  who  is 
the  image  of  God,  may  not  dawn  upon  them." 

Let  these   solemn   words  appeal  to  our  hearts  and 
consciences,  before  we  attempt  to  criticise  them.    Let  us 
have  a  due  impression  of  the  stupendous  facts  to  which 
they  refer,  before  we  raise  difficulties  about  them,  or 
say  rashly  that  the  expression   is  disproportioned   to 
the  truth.     To  St.  Paul  the  Gospel  was  a  very  great 
thing.     A  light  issued  from   it   so  dazzling,   so  over- 
whelming, in  its  splendour  and  illuminative  power,  that 
it  might  well   appear  incredible   that  men  should  not 
see  it.     The  powers  counteracting  it,  ''  the  world-rulers 
of  this  darkness,"  must  surely,   to  judge   by  their  suc- 
cess, have  an  immense  influence.      Even  more  than  an 
immense  influence,  they  must  have  an  immense  malig- 
nity.    For  what  a  blessedness  it  meant  for  men,  that 
that  light  should  dawn  upon  them  I     What  a  depriva- 
tion and  loss,  that  its  brightness  should  be  obscured  !  . 
Paul's  whole  sense  of  the  might  and  malignity  of  the 
powers  of  darkness  is  condensed  in  the  title  which  he  ' 
here  gives  to  their  head — '*  the  god  of  this  world."     It  is  \ 
literally  "  of  this  age,"  the  period  of  time  which  extends  1 
to  Christ's  coming  again.     The  dominion  of  evil  is  not '; 
unlimited   in   duration  ;  but  while  it  lasts  it  is  awful  j 

god  of  this  world  blinded."  But  he  wished  to  include  the  moral 
aspect  of  the  case,  the  side  of  the  personal  responsibility  of  the 
perishing,  as  of  equal  significance  with  the  agency  of  Satan  ;  and 
this  is  what  he  does  by  adding  rdv  airloTiop.  Hence,  though  the 
expression  is  capable  of  being  grammatically  tortured  into  something 
different  (the  perishing  becoming  only  a  part  of  the  unbelieving — 
so  Meyer),  it  is,  by  its  sheer  grammatical  awkwardness,  exempted 
from  liability  to  such  rigorous  treatment,  and  brought  under  the  rules, 
not  of  grammar,  but  of  common  sense. 


150     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

in  its  intensity  and  range.  It  does  not  seem  an 
extravagance  to  the  Apostle  to  describe  Satan  as  the 
god  of  the  present  eeon  ;  and  if  it  seems  extravagant 
to  us,  we  may  remind  ourselves  that  our  Saviour  also 
twice  speaks  of  him  as  "  tJie  prince  of  this  world."  Who 
but  Christ  Himself,  or  a  soul  like  St.  Paul  in  complete 
sympath}^  with  the  mind  and  work  of  Christ,  is  capable 
of  seeing  and  feeling  the  incalculable  mass  of  the 
forces  which  are  at  work  in  the  world  to  defeat  the 
Gospel  ?  What  sleepy  conscience,  what  moral  medio- 
crity, itself  purblind,  only  dimly  conscious  of  the  height 
of  the  Christian  calling,  and  vexed  by  no  aspira- 
tions toward  it,  has  any  right  to  say  that  it  is  too  much 
to  call  Satan ''the  god  of  this  world"?  Such  sleepy 
consciences  have  no  idea  of  the  omnipresence,  the 
steady  persistent  pressure,  the  sleepless  malignity,  of 
the  evil  forces  which  beset  man's  life.  They  have  no 
idea  of  the  extent  to  which  these  forces  frustrate  the 
love  of  God  in  the  Gospel,  and  rob  men  of  their 
inheritance  in  Christ.  To  ask  why  men  should  be 
exposed  to  such  forces  is  another,  and  hei'e  an  irrelevant, 
question.  What  St.  Paul  saw,  and  what  becomes 
apparent  to  every  one  in  proportion  as  his  interest  in 
evangelising  becomes  intense,  is  that  evil  has  a  power 
and  dominion  in  the  world,  which  are  betrayed,  by  their 
counteracting  of  the  Gospel,  to  be  purely  malignant — 
in  other  words,  Satanic — and  the  dimensions  of  which 
no  description  can  exaggerate.  Call  such  powers  Satan, 
or  what  you  please,  but  do  not  imagine  that  they  are 
inconsiderable.  During  this  age  they  7'eign ;  they 
have  virtually  taken  what  should  be  God's  place  in  the 
world. 

It  is  the  necessary  complement  of  this  assertion  of 
the  malign  dominion  of  evil,  when  St.  Paul  tells  us  that 


iv.  1-6.]  THE   GOSPEL  DEFINED  151 

it  is  exercised  in  the  case  of  unbelievers.  It  is  their 
minds  which  the  god  of  this  world  has  blinded.  We 
need  not  try  to  investigate  more  narrowly  the  relations 
of  these  two  aspects  of  the  facts.  We  need  not  say 
that  the  dominion  of  evil  produces  unbelief,  though 
this  is  true  (John  iii.  18,  19);  or  that  unbelief  gives 
Satan  his  opportunity ;  or  even  that  unbelief  and  the 
blindness  here  referred  to  are  reciprocally  cause  and 
effect  of  each  other.  The  moral  interests  involved 
are  protected  by  the  fact  that  blindness  is  only  pre- 
dicated in  the  case  in  which  the  Gospel  has  been  rejected 
by  individual  unbelief;  and  the  mere  individualism, 
which  is  the  source  of  so  many  heresies,  doctrinal  and 
practical,  is  excluded  by  the  recognition  of  spiritual 
forces  as  operative  among  men  which  are  far  more 
wide-reaching  than  any  individual  knows.  Nor  ought 
we  to  overlook  the  suggestion  of  pity,  and  even  of  hope, 
for  the  perishing,  in  the  contrast  between  their  dark- 
ness and  the  illumination  which  the  Gospel  of  the 
glory  of  Christ  lights  up.  The  perishing  are  not  the 
lost ;  the  unbelievers  may  yet  believe  :  "  in  our  deepest 
darkness,  we  know  the  direction  of  the  light  "  (Beet). 
Final  unbelief  would  mean  final  ruin ;  but  we  are 
not  entitled  to  make  sense  the  measure  of  spiritual 
things,  and  to  argue  that  because  we  see  men  blind 
and  unbelieving  now  they  are  bound  for  ever  to  remain 
so.  In  preaching  the  Gospel  we  must  preach  with 
hope  that  the  light  is  stronger  than  the  darkness,  and 
able,  even  at  the  deepest,  to  drive  it  away.  Only, 
when  we  see,  as  we  sometimes  will,  how  dense  and 
impenetrable  the  darkness  is,  we  cannot  but  cry  with 
the  Apostle,  "  Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?  " 

This  passage  is  one   of  those  in  which  the  subject 
of  the  Gospel  is  distinctly  enunciated  ;  it  is  the  Gospel 


152     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 


of  the  glory  of  Christ,  who  is  the  image  of  God.  The 
glory  of  Christ,  or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  Christ 
in  His  glory,  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  it,  that  which 
gives  it  both  its  contents  and  its  character.  Paul's 
conception  of  the  Gospel  is  inspired  and  controlled 
from  beginning  to  end  by  the  appearance  of  the  Lord 
which  resulted  in  his  conversion.  In  the  First  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians  (i.  i8,  23),  and  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians  (vi.  14),  he  seems  to  find  what  is  essential 
and  distinguishing  in  the  Cross  rather  than  the  Throne  ; 
but  this  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the  significance 
of  the  Cross  had  been  virtually  denied  by  those  for 
whom  His  words  are  meant.  The  Christ  whom  he 
preached  had  died,  and  died,  as  the  next  chapter  will 
make  very  prominent,  to  reconcile  the  world  to  God ; 
but  Paul  preached  Him  as  he  had  seen  Him  on  that 
ever-memorable  day ;  with  all  the  virtue  of  His  atoning 
death  in  it,  the  Gospel  was  yet  the  Gospel  of  His  glory. 
It  is  in  the  combination  of  these  two  that  the  supreme 
power  of  the  Gospel  lies.  In  the  distaste  for  the  super- 
I  natural  which  has  prevailed  so  widely,  many  have 
I  tried  to  ignore  this,  and  to  get  out  of  the  Cross  alone 
'\  an  inspiration  which  it  cannot  yield  if  severed  from 
( the  Throne.  Had  the  story  of  Jesus  ended  with  the 
words  ''suffered  under  Pontius  Pilate,  was  crucified, 
dead,  and  buried,"  it  is  very  certain  that  these  words 
would  never  have  formed  part  of  a  Creed — there  would 
never  have  been  such  a  thing  as  the  Christian  religion. 
But  when  these  words  are  combined  with  what  follows 
— "  He  rose  again  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day.  He 
ascended  into  heaven,  and  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of 
God  the  Father  " — we  have  the  basis  which  religion 
requires ;  we  have  a  living  Lord,  in  whom  all  the 
redemptive  virtue  of  a  sinless  life  and  death  is  treasured 


iv.  1-6.]  THE  GOSPEL  DEFINED  153 

up,  and  who  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that 
trust  Him.  It  is  not  the  emotions  excited  by  the 
spectacle  of  the  Passion,  any  more  than  the  admiration 
evoked  by  the  contemplation  of  Christ's  life,  that  save  ; 
it  is  the  Lord  of  glory,  who  lived  that  life  of  love,  and 
in  love  endured  that  agony,  and  who  is  now  enthroned 
at  God's  right  hand.  The  life  and  death  in  one  senses 
form  part  of  His  glory,  in  another  they  are  a  foil  to  it ;, 
He  could  not  have  been  our  Saviour  but  for  them  ;j 
He  would  not  be  our  Saviour  unless  He  had  triumphed 
over  them,  and  entered  into  a  glory  beyond.  ' 

When  the  Apostle  speaks  of  Christ  as  the  image 
of  God,  we  must  not  let  extraneous  associations  with 
this  title  deflect  us  from  the  true  line  of  his  thought. 
It  is  still  the  Exalted  One  of  whom  he  is  speaking: 
there  is  no  other  Christ  for  him.  In  that  face  which 
flashed  upon  him  by  Damascus  twenty  years  before,  he 
had  seen,  and  always  saw,  all  that  man  could  see  of 
the  invisible  God.  It  represented  for  him,  and  for  all 
to  whom  he  preached,  the  Sovereignty  and  the  Redeem- 
ing Love  of  God,  as  completely  as  man  could  understand 
them.  It  evoked  those  ascriptions  of  praise  which  a 
Jew  was  accustomed  to  offer  to  God  alone.  It  inspired 
doxologies.  When  it  passed  before  the  inward  eye  of 
the  Apostle,  he  worshipped  :  "  to  Him,"  he  said,  "  be 
the  glory  and  the  dominion  for  ever  and  ever." 
Whether  the  pre-incarnate  Son  was  also  the  image  of 
God,  and  whether  the  same  title  is  applicable  to  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  are  separate  questions.  If  they  are  raised, 
they  must  be  answered  in  the  affirmative,  with  the 
necessary  qualifications;  but  they  are  quite  irrelevant 
here.  Much  misunderstanding  of  the  Pauline  Gospel 
would  have  been  prevented  if  men  could  have  remem-r 
bered  that  what  was  only  of  secondary  importance  to 


154     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

them,  and  even  of  doubtful  certainty — namely,  the 
exaltation  of  Christ — was  itself  the  foundation  of  the 
Apostle's  Christianity,  the  one  indubitable  fact  from 
which  his  whole  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  his  whole 
conception  of  the  Gospel,  set  forth.  Christ  on  the 
throne  was,  if  one  may  say  so,  a  more  immediate 
certainty  to  Paul,  than  Jesus  on  the  banks  of  the  lake, 
or  even  Jesus  on  the  cross.  It  may  not  be  natural  or 
easy  for  us  to  start  thus ;  but  if  we  do  not  make  the 
effort,  we  shall  involuntarily  dislocate  and  distort  the 
whole  system  of  his  thoughts. 

In  the  fourth  verse  the  stress  is  logically,  if  not 
grammatically,  on  Christ.  "  The  Gospel  of  the  glory 
of  Christ^''  I  say.  "  For  we  preach  not  ourselves,  but 
Christ  Jesus  as  Lord,  and  ourselves  as  your  servants 
for  Jesus'  sake."  Perhaps  ambition  had  been  laid  to 
Paul's  charge  ;  ''  the  necessity  of  being  first  "  is  one  of 
the  last  infirmities  of  noble  minds.  But  the  Gospel  is 
too  magnificent  to  have  any  room  for  thoughts  of 
self.  A  proud  man  may  make  a  nation,  or  even  a 
Church,  the  instrument  or  the  arena  of  his  pride ;  he 
may  find  in  it  the  field  of  his  ambition,  and  make  it 
subservient  to  his  own  exaltation.  But  the  defence 
which  Paul  has  offered  of  his  truthfulness  in  chap.  i. 
is  as  capable  of  application  here.  No  one  whom  Christ 
has  seized,  subdued,  and  made  wholly  His  own  for  ever, 
can  practise  the  arts  of  self-advancement  in  Christ's 
service.  The  two  are  mutually  exclusive.  Paul 
preaches  Christ  Jesus  as  Lord — the  absolute  character 
in  which  he  knows  Him  ;  as  for  himself,  he  is  every 
man's  servant  for  Jesus'  sake.  He  obtained  mercy, 
that  he  might  be  found  faithful  in  service  :  the  very 
name  of  Jesus  kills  pride  in  his  heart,  and  makes  him 
ready  to  minister  even  to  the  unthankful  and  evil, 


iv.  1-6.]  THE  GOSPEL  DEFINED  155 

This  is  the  force  of  the  "  for"  with  which  the  sixth 
verse  begins.  It  is  as  if  he  had  written,  "  With  our 
experience,  no  other  course  is  possible  to  us ;  for  it  is 
God,  who  said,  Light  shall  shine  out  of  darkness,  who  u^ 
shined  in  our  hearts  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ."  But 
the  connexion  here  is  of  little  importance  in  compari- 
son with  the  grandeur  of  the  contents.  In  this  verse 
we  have  the  first  glimpse  of  the  Pauline  doctrine, 
explicitly  stated  in  the  next  chapter — *^  that  if  any  man 
be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature."  The  Apostle  finds 
the  only  adequate  parallel  to  his  own  conversion  in 
that  grand  creative  act  in  which  God  brought  light,  by 
a  word,  out  of  the  darkness  of  chaos.  It  is  not  forcing 
the  figure  unduly,  nor  losing  its  poetic  virtue,  to  think 
of  gloom  and  disorder  as  the  condition  of  the  soul  on 
which  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  has  not  risen.  Neither 
is  it  putting  any  strain  upon  it  to  make  it  suggest  that 
only  the  creative  word  of  God  can  dispel  the  darkness, 
and  give  the  beauty  of  life  and  order  to  what  was 
waste  and  void.  There  is  one  point,  indeed,  in  which 
_the  miracle  of  grace  is  more  wonderful  than  that  of 
creation.  God  only  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out 
of  darkness  when  time  began ;  but  He  shone  Himself 
in  the  Apostle's  heart :  Ipse  lux  nostra  (Bengel).  He 
shone  **to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory 
of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ."  In  that  light 
which  God  flashed  into  his  heart,  he  saw  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  knew  that  the  glory  which  shone 
there  was  the  glory  of  God.  What  these  words  mean 
has  already  been  explained.  In  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Lord  of  Glory,  Paul  saw  God's  Redeeming 
Love  upon  the  throne  of  the  universe  ;  it  had  descended 
deeper  than  sin  and  death  ;  it  was  exalted  now  above! 


156     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

■  all  heavens  ;  it  filled  all  things.  That  sight  he  carried 
with  him  everywhere  ;  it  was  his  salvation  and  his 
Gospel,  the  inspiration  of  his  inmost  life,  and  the 
motive  of  all  his  labours.  One  who  owed  all  this  to 
Christ  was  not  likely  to  make  Christ's  service  the 
theatre  of  his  own  ambitions ;  he  could  not  do  anything 
but  take  the  servant's  place,  and  proclaim  Jesus  Christ 
as  Lord. 

There  is  a  difficulty  in  the  last  half  of  ver.  6  :  it  is 
not  clear  what  precisely  is  meant  by  tt/do?  (^wTLa/nbv  Trj<; 
yv(jo(T€G)<;  T?}?  S6^r)<;  rod  Oeov  k.t.\.  By  some  the 
passage  is  rendered  :  God  shined  in  our  hearts,  "  that 
He  might  bring  into  the  light  (for  tts  to  see  it)  the 
knowledge  of  His  glory,"  etc.  This  is  certainly  legiti- 
mate, and  strikes  me  as  the  most  natural  interpretation. 
It  would  answer  then  to  what  Paul  says  in  Gal.  i.  i J  f^^ 
referring  to  the  same  event :  ''  It  pleased  God  to  reveal 
His  Son  in  me."  But  others  think  all  this  is  covered 
by  the  words  "  God  shined  in  our  hearts,"  and  they  take 
Trpb^  <j)(jdTLafiov  k.t.X.,  as  a  description  of  the  apostolic 
vocation  :  God  shined  in  our  hearts,  *'  that  we  might 
bring  into  the  light  (for  others  to  see)  the  knowledge 
of  His  glory,"  etc.  The  words  would  then  answer  to 
what  follows  in  Gal.  i.  i6  :  God  revealed  His  Son  in  me, 
^*  that  I  might  preach  Him  among  the  heathen."  This 
construction  is  possible,  but  I  think  forced.  In  Paul's 
experience  his  conversion  and  vocation  were  indis- 
solubly  connected  ;  but  tt/qo?  (pwna^ov  k.t.X.,  can  only 
mean  one,  and  the  conversion  is  the  likelier. 


XII 

THE   VICTORY  OF  FAITH 

"  But  we  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  exceeding 
greatness  of  the  power  may  be  of  God,  and  not  from  ourselves ;  we 
are  pressed  on  every  side,  yet  not  straitened  ;  perplexed,  yet  not 
unto  despair;  pursued,  yet  not  forsaken;  smitten  down,  yet  not 
destroyed ;  always  bearing  about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  Jesus, 
that  the  life  also  of  Jesus  may  be  manifested  in  our  body.  For  we 
which  live  are  alway  delivered  unto  death  for  Jesus'  sake,  that  the 
life  also  of  Jesus  may  be  manifested  in  our  mortal  flesh.  So  then 
death  worketh  in  us,  but  life  in  you.  But  having  the  same  spirit  of 
faith,  according  to  that  which  is  written,  I  believed,  and  therefore 
did  I  speak ;  we  also  believe,  and  therefore  also  we  speak ;  knowing 
that  He  which  raised  up  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  raise  up  us  also  with 
Jesus,  and  shall  present  us  with  you.  For  all  things  are  for  your 
sakes,  that  the  grace,  being  multiplied  through  the  many,  may  cause 
the  thanksgiving  to  abound  unto  the  glory  of  God. 

"  Wherefore  we  faint  not ;  but  though  our  outward  man  is  decay- 
ing, yet  our  inward  man  is  renew'ed  day  by  day.  For  our  light 
affliction,  which  is  for  the  moment,  worketh  for  us  more  and  more 
exceedingly  an  eternal  weight  of  glory ;  while  we  look  not  at  the 
things  which  are  seen,  but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen  :  for  the 
things  which  are  seen  are  temporal ;  but  the  things  which  are  not 
seen  are  eternal." — 2  Cor.  iv.  7-18  (R.V.). 

IN  the  opening  verses  of  this  chapter  Paul  has 
magnified  his  office,  and  his  equipment  for  it.  He 
has  risen  to  a  great  height,  poetic  and  spiritual,  in 
speaking  of  the  Lord  of  glory,  and  of  the  light  which 
shines  from  His  face  for  the  illumining  and  redemption 
of  pien.  The  disproportion  between  his  own  nature 
and  powers,  and  the  high  calling  to  which  he  has  been 

157 


158     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

called,  flashes  across  his  mind.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  this  disproportion,  viewed  with  a  malignant  eye, 
had  been  made  matter  of  reproach  by  his  adversaries. 
''  Who,"  they  may  have  said,  "  is  this  man,  who  soars 
to  such  heights,  and  makes  such  extraordinary  claims  ? 
The  part  does  not  suit  him  ;  he  is  quite  unequal  to  it ; 
his  bodily  presence  is  weak,  and  his  speech  contempt- 
ible." It  is  possible,  further,  though  I  hardly  think  it 
probable,  that  the  very  sufferings  Paul  endured  in  his 
apostolic  work  were  cast  in  his  teeth  by  Jewish  teachers 
at  Corinth ;  they  were  read  by  these  spiteful  inter- 
preters as  signs  of  God's  wrath,  the  judgment  of  the 
Almighty  on  a  wanton  subverter  of  His  law.  But 
surely  it  is  not  too  much  to  suppose  that  Paul  could 
sometimes  think  unchallenged.  A  soul  as  great  and 
as  sensitive  as  his  might  well  be  struck  by  the  contrast 
which  pervades  this  passage  without  requiring  to  have 
it  suggested  by  the  malice  of  his  foes.  The  interpreta- 
tion which  he  puts  upon  the  contrast  is  not  merely  a 
happy  artifice  (so  Calvin),  and  still  less  a  totir  de  force  ; 
it  is  a  profound  truth,  a  favourite,  if  one  may  say  so, 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  of  universal  application. 

"  We  have  this  treasure,"  he  writes — the  treasure  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ,  including  the  apostolic  vocation  to  diffuse  that 
knowledge — "  we  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels, 
that  the  exceeding  greatness  of  the  power  [which  it 
exercises,  and  which  is  exhibited  in  sustaining  us  in 
our  function]  may  be  seen  to  be  God's,  and  not  from 
us."  Earthen  vessels  are  fragile,  and  what  the  word 
immediately  suggests  is  no  doubt  bodily  weakness,  and 
especially  mortality ;  but  the  nature  of  some  of  the 
trials  referred  to  in  vv.  8  and  9  (airopou^evot,  aXX  ov/c 
e^airopovjjievoi)   shows   that  it  would   be  a  mistake   to 


iv.7-i8.]  THE    VICTORY  OF  FAITH  159 

confine  the  meaning  to  the  body.     The  earthen  vessel  I 
which  holds  the  priceless  treasure  of  the   knowledge  I 
of  God — the  lamp  of  frail  ware  in  which  the  light  of, 
Christ's  glory  shines  for  the  illumination  of  the  world — 
is  human  nature  as  it  is  ;  man's  body  in  its  weakness, 
and  liability   to  death  ;   his  mind   with   its  limitations 
and  confusions ;  his  moral  nature  with  its  distortions 
and  misconceptions,   and   its   insight  not  yet  half  re- 
stored.    It  was  not  merely  in  his  physique  that  Paul 
felt  the   disparity   between  himself  and   his  calling  to 
preach   the  Gospel   of  the  glory  of  Christ ;  it  was  in  / 
his  whole  being.     But  instead  of  finding  in  this  dis-\ 
parity  reason  to  doubt  his  vocation,  he  saw  in  it  anj 
illustration  of  a  great  law  of  God.     It  served  to  protect  \ 
the  truth  that  salvation  is  of  the  Lord.     No  one  who  I 
saw  the  exceeding  greatness   of  the  power  which  the 
Gospel  exercised — not  only  in  sustaining  its  preachers 
under  persecution,  but  in  transforming  human  nature, 
and  making  bad  men  good — no  one  who  saw  this,  and 
looked  at  a  preacher  like  Paul,  could  dream  that  the 
explanation    lay  in  him.      Not  in   an   ugly  little  Jew, 
without  presence,  without  eloquence,  without  the  means 
to  bribe  or  to  compel,  could  the  source  of  such  courage, 
the  cause  of  such  transformations,  be  found  ;  it  must 
be  sought,  not  in  him,  but  in  God.     "  God  hath  chosen 
the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise  ; 
and  God  hath  chosen   the  weak  things  of  the  world 
to  confound   the  things  which   are  mighty  ;  and  base 
things  of  the  world,   and   things  which  are  despised, 
hath   God  chosen,   yea,   and  things  which  are  not,  to 
bring  to  nought  things  which  are."     And  the  end  of  it 
all  is  that  he  which  glorieth  should  glory  in  the  Lord. 

This   verse    is    never  without   its   application ;  and 
though   the  contempt  of  the  world  did  not  suggest  it 


i6o     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 


to  St.  Paul,  it  may  naturally  enough  recall  it  to  us. 
One  would  sometimes  think,  from  the  tone  of  current 
literature,  that  no  person  with  gifts  above  contempt  is 
any  longer  identified  with  the  Gospel.  Clever  men,  we 
are  told,  do  not  become  preachers  now — still  less  do 
they  go  to  church.  They  find  it  impossible  to  have 
real  or  sincere  intellectual  intercourse  with  Christian 
ministers.       Perhaps   this  is    not  so  alarming    as    the 

•  clever  people  think.  There  always  have  been  men  in 
the  world  so  clever  that  God  could  make  no  use  of 
them  ;  they  could  never  do  His  work,  because  they 
were  so  lost  in  admiration  of  their  own.     But  God's 

I  work  never  depended  on  them,  and  it  does  not  depend 
on  them  now.  It  depends  on  those  who,  when  they 
see  Jesus  Christ,  become  unconscious,  once  and  for 
ever,  of  all  that  they  have  been  used  to  call  their 
wisdom  and  their  strength — on  those  who  are  but 
earthen  vessels  in  which  another's  jewel  is  kept,  lamps 
of  clay  in  which  another's  light  shines.  The  kingdom 
of  God  has  not  changed  its  administration  since  the 
first  century ;  its  supreme  law  is  still  the  glory  of  God, 
and  not  the  glory  of  the  clever  men  ;  and  we  may  be 
quite  sure  it  will  not  change.  God  will  always  have 
his  work  done  by  instruments  who  are  willing  to  have 
it  clear  that  the  exceeding  greatness  of  the  power  is 
His,  and  not  theirs. 

The  eighth  and  ninth  verses  illustrate  the  contrast 
between  Paul's  weakness  and  God's  power.  In  the 
series  of  participles  which  the  Apostle  uses,  the  earthen 
vessel  is  represented  by  the  first  in  each  pair,  the  divine 
power  by  the  second.  *'We  are  pressed  on  every  side, 
but  not  straitened" — i.e.,  not  brought  into  a  narrow 
place  from  which  there  is  no  escape.  ''  We  are  per- 
plexed, but  not  unto  despair,"  or,  preserving  the  relation 


iv.  7-iS.]  THE   VICTORY  OF  FAITH  l6i 

between  the  words  of  the  original,  "  put  to  it,  but  not 
utterly  put  out."  This  distinctly  suggests  inward  rather 
than  merely  bodily  trials,  or  at  least  the  inward  aspect 
of  these  :  constantly  at  a  loss,  the  Apostle  nevertheless 
constantly  finds  the  solution  of  his  problems.  "  Pursued, 
but  not  abandoned  " — /.<?.,  not  left  in  the  enemy's  hands. 
"  Smitten  down,  but  not  destroyed  "  :  even  when  trouble 
has  done  its  worst,  when  the  persecuted  man  has  been 
overtaken  and  struck  to  the  ground,  the  blow  is  not 
fatal,  and  he  rises  again.  All  these  partial  contrasts 
of  human  weakness  and  Divine  power  are  condensed 
and  concentrated  in  the  tenth  verse  in  one  great  con- 
trast, the  two  sides  of  which  are  presented  in  their 
divinely  intended  relation  to  each  other :  *'  always 
bearing  about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  Jesus,  that  the 
hfe  also  of  Jesus  may  be  manifested  in  our  body."  And 
this  again,  with  its  mystical  poetic  aspect,  especially  in 
the  first  clause,  is  reaffirmed  and  rendered  into  prose 
in  ver.  1 1  :  "  For  we,  alive  as  we  are,  are  ever  being 
delivered  unto  death  for  Jesus'  sake,  that  the  life  also 
of  Jesus  may  be  manifested  in  our  mortal  flesh." 

Paul  does  not  say  that  he  bears  about  in  his  body  j 
the  death  of  Jesus  (Odvaro^),  but  his  dying  (veKpcoai,<;f  ] 
mortificatio),  the  process  which  produces  death.  The 
sufferings  which  come  upon  him  daily  in  his  work  for 
Jesus  are  gradually  killing  him ;  the  pains,  the  perils, 
the  spiritual  pressure,  the  excitement  of  danger  and  the 
excitement  of  deliverance,  are  wearing  out  his  strength, 
and  soon  he  must  die.  In  the  very  same  way  Jesus 
Himself  had  spent  His  strength  and  died,  and  in  that 
life  of  weakness  and  suffering  which  was  always 
bringing  him  nearer  the  grave,  Paul  felt  himself  in 
intimate  sympathetic  communion  with  his  Master  :  it 
was  "  the  dying  of  Jesus  "  that  he  carried  about  in  his 

II 


i62     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

body.     But  that  was  not  all.     In  spite  of  the  dying, 
he  was  not  dead.     Perpetually  in  peril,  he  had  a  per- 
petual series  of  escapes  ;  perpetually  at  his  wits'  end, 
his  way  perpetually  opened  before  him.     What  was  the 
explanation  of  that?     It  was  the  life  of  Jesus  manifest- 
ing itself  in  his  body.     The  life  of  Jesus  can  only  mean 
the  life  which  Jesus  lives  now  at  God's  right  hand ;  and 
these  repeated  escapes  of  the  Apostle,  these  restorations 
of  his  courage,  are  manifestations  of  that  life  ;  they  are, 
so  to  speak,  a  series   of  resurrections.       Paul's  com- 
munion with  Jesus  is  not  only  in  His  dying,  but  in  His 
rising  again  ;  he  has  the  evidence  of  the  Resurrection, 
because  he  has  its  power,  present  with  him,  in  these 
constant  deliverances  and  renewals.      Nay,  the  very 
purpose  of  his  sufferings  and  perils  is  to  provide  occa- 
sion   for   the    manifestation    of  this    resurrection    life. 
Unless  he  were  exposed  to  death,  God  could  not  deliver 
him  from  it ;  unless  he  were  pressed  in  the  spirit,  God 
could  not  give  him  relief;  there  could  be  no  setting  off 
of  the  exceeding  greatness  of  His  power  in  contrast 
with  the  exceeding  frailty  of  the  earthen  vessel.     The 
use  of  '*  body  "  and  of  "  mortal  flesh  "  in  these  verses 
has  been  appealed  to  in  support  of  an  interpretation 
which  would  limit  the  meaning  to  what  is  merely  physi- 
cal :  *'  I  am  in  daily  danger  of  death,  God  daily  delivers 
me  from  it,  and  thus  the  life  of  Jesus  is  manifested  in 
me."     This  is  of  course  included  in  the  interpretation 
given  above ;  but  I  cannot  suppose  it  is  all  the  Apostle 
meant.     The  truth  is,  there   is  no  such  thing  in  the 
passage,  or  indeed  in  human  life,  as  a  merely  physical 
experience.     To  be  delivered  to  death  for  Jesus'  sake 
is   an    experience  which    is   at  once  and  indissolubly 
physical  and  spiritual ;  it  could  not  be,  unless  the  soul 
had  its  part,   and    that   the  chief  part,  in    it.     To  be 


iv.  7-i8.]  THE   VICTORY  OF  FAITH  163 

delivered  from  such  death  is  also  an  experience  as 
much  spiritual  as  physical.  And  in  both  aspects,  and 
not  least  in  the  first,  is  the  life  of  Jesus  manifested. 
Nor  can  I  see  that  it  is  in  the  least  degree  unnatural 
for  one  who  feels  this  to  speak  of  that  life  as  being 
manifested  in  his  "  body,"  or  in  his  "  mortal  flesh  "  ; 
it  is  a  way  which  all  men  understand  of  describing  the 
human  nature,  which  is  the  scene  of  the  manifestation, 
as  a  frail  and  powerless  thing. 

The  moral  of  the  passage  is  similar  to  that  of  chap.  i. 
3-1 1.  Suffering,  for  the  Christian,  is  not  an  accident; 
it  is  a  divine  appointment  and  a  divine  opportunity. 
To  wear  life  out  in  the  service  of  Jesus  is  to  open  it 
to  the  entrance  of  Jesus'  life ;  it  is  to  receive,  in  all  its 
alleviations,  in  all  its  renewals,  in  all  its  deliverances, 
a  witness  to  His  resurrection.  Perhaps  it  is  only  by 
accepting  this  service,  with  the  daily  dying  it  demands, 
that  that  witness  can  be  given  to  us ;  and  "  the  life  of 
Jesus  "  on  His  throne  may  become  inapprehensible  and 
unreal  in  proportion  as  we  decline  to  bear  about  in  our 
bodies  His  dying.  All  who  have  commented  on  this 
passage  have  noticed  the  iteration  of  the  name  of  Jesus. 
Singidariter  sensit  Paiilus  dulcedinem  ejus.  Schmiedel 
explains  the  repetition  as  partly  accidental,  and  partly 
indicative  of  the  fact  that  Christ's  death  is  here  regarded 
as  a  purely  human  occurrence,  and  not  as  a  redemptive 
deed  of  the  Messiah.  This  points  in  the  right  direction, 
though  it  may  fairly  be  doubted  whether  Paul  would 
have  drawn  this  distinction,  or  could  even  have  been 
made  to  understand  it.  The  analytic  tendency  of  the 
modern  mind  often  disintegrates  what  depends  for  its 
virtue  on  being  kept  whole  and  entire,  and  this  seems 
to  me  a  case  in  point.  The  use  of  the  name  Jesus 
rather  indicates  that,  in  recalling  the  actual  events  of 


1 64     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

his  own  career,  Paul  saw  them  run  continually  parallel 
to  events  in  the  career  of  Another ;  they  were  one  in 
kind  with  that  painful  series  of  incidents  which  ended 
in  the  death  of  the  historical  Saviour.  People  have 
often  sought  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul  for  traces  of  a 
knowledge  of  Christ  Hke  that  which  is  conserved  in  the 
first  three  Gospels ;  in  this  expression,  ttjv  veKpcocnv 
rov  'Irjcrov,  and  in  the  repetition  of  the  historical  proper 
name,  there  is  an  indirect  but  quite  convincing  proof 
that  the  general  character  of  Christ's  life  was  known  to 
the  Apostle.  And  though  he  does  not  dwell  on  Christ's 
sympathy  with  the  fulness  and  power  of  the  writer  to 
the  Hebrews,  it  is  evident  from  this  passage  that  he 
was  in  sympathetic  fellowship  with  One  who  had 
suffered  as  he  suffered,  and  that  even  to  name  His 
human  name  was  consolation. 

In  ver.  12  an  abrupt  conclusion  is  drawn  from  all 
that  precedes  :  ''So  then  death  worketh  in  us,  but  life 
in  you."  Ironice  dictum,  is  Calvin's  comment,  and  the 
words  are  at  least  intelligible  if  so  taken.  The  stinging 
passage  beginning  at  chap.  iv.  8  of  the  First  Epistle 
is  ironical  in  precisely  this  sense — "We  are  fools  for 
Christ's  sake,  but  3^e  are  wise  in  Christ ;  we  are  weak, 
but  ye  are  strong;  ye  have  glory,  but  we  have  dis- 
honour "  :  this  is  as  it  w^ere  a  variation  on  the  theme 
"  death  worketh  in  us,  but  life  in  you."  Still,  the  irony 
does  not  seem  in  place  here  :  Paul  writes  in  all  serious- 
ness that  the  sufferings  which  he  endures  as  a  preacher 
of  the  Gospel,  and  which  eventually  bring  death  to 
him — which  are  the  approaches  of  death,  or  death  itself 
at  work — are  the  means  by  which  life,  in  the  most  un- 
qualified sense,  comes  to  be  at  work  in  the  Corinthians. 
If  the  death  and  life  which  are  in  view  wherever  the 
Gospel  appears  are  to  be  distributed  among  them,  the 


iv.7-i8.]  THE  VICTORY  OF  FAITH  165 

death  is  his,  and  the  Hfe  theirs;  the  d3ini^  of  Jesus  is 
borne  about  by  the  Evangelist,  while  tliose  who  accept 
the  message  he  brings  at  tliis  cost  are  made  partakers 
in  Jesus'  hfe. 

Not  indeed  that  the  contrast  can  be  thus  absolute  : 
the  thirteenth  verse  corrects  this  hasty  inference.  If 
death  alone  were  at  work  in  St.  Paul,  it  would  frustrate 
his  vocation ;  he  would  not  be  able  to  preach  at  all. 
But  he  is  able  to  preach.  In  spite  of  all  the  discourage- 
ment which  his  sufferings  might  beget,  his  faith  remains 
vigorous ;  he  is  conscious  of  possessing  that  same 
confidence  toward  God  which  animated  the  ancient 
Psalmist  to  sing,  '*  I  believed,  therefore  I  spoke."  ''  We 
also,"  he  says,  ''believe,  and  therefore  also  we  speak." 
What  he  believes,  and  what  prompts  his  utterance,  we 
read  in  the  thirteenth  verse  :  '*  We  speak,  knowing  that 
He  who  raised  Jesus  shall  raise  us  also  like  ^  Jesus,  and 
shall  present  us  with  you.  With  you,  I  say:  for  the 
whole  thing  is  for  your  sakes,  that  the  grace,  having 
become  abundant,  may  by  means  of  many  ^  cause  the 
thanksgiving  to  abound  to  the  glory  of  God." 

What  an  interesting  illustration  this  is  of  the  com- 
munion of  the  saints !  Paul  recognises  a  spiritual 
kinsman  in  the  writer  of  the  Psalm  ;  ^  faith  in  God,  the 

"  li'v  '1t](tov  is  the  true  reading  :  sameness  of  kind  is  meant,  not  of 
time. 

"^  Aia  tQ}v  TrXeLovcou  is  construed  in  the  R.V.  with  irXeoudaaaa  (so 
Meyer):  De  Wette  takes  it  as  above  ;  in  the  A.V.  the  Slcl  is  made  to 
govern  ttjj/  evxapiffTiav.  There  is  no  grammatical  decision  certain 
here. 

^  The  Hebrew  Psalm  cxvi.  10  is  at  this  precise  point  practically 
unintelligible,  but  that  docs  not  justify  any  one  in  saying  that  the  fine 
thought  of  the  Apostle  is  utterly  foreign  to  the  original  text.  The 
open  confession  of  God,  as  a  duty  of  faith,  pervades  the  psalm  from 
this  point  to  the  end  (the  verses  beginning 'ETrt'cTTei'O-a  816  iXd'Krfaa 
make  a  psalm  by  themselves  in  the  LXX.). 


i66     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

power  which  faith  confers,  the  obhgations  which  faith 
imposes,  are  the  same  in  all  ages.  He  recognises 
spiritual  kinsmen  in  the  Corinthians  also.  All  his 
sufferings  have  their  interest  in  view,  and  it  is  part  of 
his  joy,  as  he  looks  on  to  the  future,  that  when  God 
raises  him  from  the  dead,  as  He  raised  His  own  Son, 
He  will  present  him  along  with  them.  Their  unity 
will  not  be  dissolved  by  death.  The  word  here  rendered 
** present"  has  often  a  technical  sense  in  Paul's  Epistles; 
it  is  almost  appropriated  to  the  presenting  of  men  before 
the  judgment-seat  of  Christ.  Good  scholars  insist  on 
that  meaning  here ;  but  even  with  the  proviso  that  accept- 
ance in  the  judgment  is  taken  for  granted,  I  cannot  feel 
that  it  is  quite  congruous.  There  is  such  a  thing  as 
presentation  to  a  sovereign  as  well  as  to  a  judge — the 
presenting  of  the  bride  to  the  bridegroom  on  the  wedding 
day  as  well  as  of  the  criminal  to  the  justice — and  it 
is  the  great  and  glad  occasion  which  answers  to  the 
feeling  in  the  Apostle's  mind.  The  communion  of  the 
saints,  in  virtue  of  which  his  sufferings  bring  blessing 
to  the  Corinthians,  has  its  issue  in  the  joyful  union  of 
all  before  the  throne.  As  Paul  thinks  of  that,  he  sees 
an  end  in  the  Gospel  lying  beyond  the  blessing  it  brings 
to  men.  That  end  is  God's  glory.  The  more  he  toils 
and  suffers,  the  more  God's  grace  is  made  known 
and  received;  and  the  more  it  is  received,  the  more 
does  it  cause  thanksgiving  to  abound  to  the  glory 
of  God. 

Two  practical  reflections  present  themselves  here, 
nearly  related  to  each  other.  The  first  is  that  faith 
naturally  speaks  ;  the  second,  that  grace  merits  thanks- 
giving. Put  the  two  into  one,  and  we  may  say  that 
grace  received  by  faith  merits  articulate  thanksgiving. 
Much   modern  faith  is  inarticulate,   and   it  is  far  too 


iv.  7-18.]  THE   VICTORY  OF  FAITH  167 

soothing  to  be  true  if  we  say,  Better  so.     Of  course  thej 
utterance  of  faith  is  not  prescribed  to  it ;  to  be  of  any! 
value  it  must  be  spontaneous.     Not  all  the  believing  are^ 
to  be  teachers  and  preachers,    but  all  are  to  be  con-' 
fessors.     Every  one  who   has   faith   has  a  witness  to  /  ^ 
bear  to  God.     Every  one  who  has  accepted  God's  gracej 
by  faith  has  a  thankful  acknowledgment  of  it  to  make, , 
and  at  some  time  or  other  to  make  in  words.     It  is. 
not  the  faculty  of  speech  that  is  wanting  where  this  is 
not  done ;  it  is  courage  and  gratitude  ;  it  is  the  same 
Spirit  of  faith  which  prompted  the   Psalmist  and   St. 
Paul.     It  is  true  that  hypocrites  sometimes  speak,  and 
that  testimonies  and  thanksgivings  are  apt  to  be  dis- 
credited on  their  account ;  but  bad  money  would  never 
be  put  in  circulation  unless  good  money  was  indisputably 
valuable.       It   is    not    the   dumb,    but    the    confessing 
Christian,  not  the  taciturn,  but  the  outspokenly  thankful, 
who  glorifies  God,  and  helps  on  the   Gospel.     Calvin 
is    properly   severe   on    our    ''pseudo-nicodemi,"    who 
make  a   merit   of  their    silence,    and    boast   that  they 
have  never  by  a  syllable  betrayed  their  faith.     Faith 
is  betrayed  in  another  and  more  serious  sense  when  it, 
is  kept  secret.  ' 

But  to  return  to  the  Apostle,  who  himself,  at  ver.  16, 
returns  to  the  beginning  of  the  chapter,  and  resumes 
the  ovK  eyKaKov/i€V  of  ver.  i:  "Wherefore  we  faint 
not."  '*  Wherefore  "  means  ''  With  all  that  has  been 
said  in  view " ;  not  only  the  glorious  future  in  which 
Paul  and  his  disciples  are  to  be  raised  and  presented 
together  to  Christ,  but  his  daily  experience  of  the  life 
of  Jesus  manifested  in  his  mortal  flesh.  This  kept 
him  brave  and  strong.  ''  We  faint  not ;  but  though 
our  outward  man  is  decaying,  yet  our  inward  man  is 
renewed  day  by  day."     The  outward  man  covers  the 


1 68     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

same  area  as  "  our  body,"  or  ''  our  mortal  flesh."  It 
is  human  nature  as  it  is  constituted  in  this  world — a 
weak,  fragile,  perishable  thing.  Paul  could  not  mistake, 
and  did  not  hide  from  himself,  the  effect  which  his 
apostohc  work  had  upon  him.  He  saw  it  was  killing 
him.  He  was  old  long  before  the  time.  He  was  a 
sorely  broken  man  at  an  age  when  many  are  in  the 
fulness  of  their  strength.  The  earthen  vessel  was 
visibly  crumbling.  Still,  that  was  not  the  whole  of  his 
/  ? experience.  ''The  inward  man  is  renewed  day  by 
^  day."  The  meaning  of  these  words  must  be  fixed 
mainly  by  the  opposition  in  which  they  stand  to 
ovK.  iyKaKovfjiev  ("we  faint  not ").  The  same  word 
{avaKaivovaOaC)  is  used  of  the  renewal  of  the  soul  in 
the  Creator's  image  (Col.  iii.  lo)— />.,  of  the  work  of 
sanctification ;  but  the  opposition  in  question  proves 
that  this  is  not  contemplated  here.  We  must  rather 
think  of  the  daily  supply  of  spiritual  power  for  apostolic 
/  service — of  the  new  strength  and  joy  which  were  given 
to  St.  Paul  every  morning,  in  spite  of  the  toils  and 
sufferings  which  every  day  exhausted  him.  Of  course 
we  can  say  of  all  people,  bad  as  well  as  good,  "The 
outward  man  is  decaying."  Time  tires  the  stoutest 
runner,  crumbles  the  compactest  wall.  But  we  cannot 
say  of  all,  "The  inward  man  is  renewed  day  by  day." 
That  is  not  the  compensation  of  every  one ;  it  is  the 
compensation  of  those  whose  outward  man  has  decayed 
in  Jesus'  service,  who  have  been  worn  out  in  labours 
for  His  sake.  It  is  they,  and  they  only,  who  have  a 
life  within  which  is  independent  of  outward  conditions, 
which  sufferings  and  deaths  cannot  crush,  and  which 
never  grows  old.  The  decay  of  the  outward  man  in  the 
godless  is  a  melancholy  spectacle,  for  it  is  the  decay 
of  everything ;  in  the  Christian  it  does  not  touch  that 


iv.7-i8.]  THE   VICTORY  OF  FAITH  169 


life  which  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  and  which  is  in 
the  soul  itself  a  well  of  water  springing  up  to  life 
eternal. 

But  who  shall  speak  of  the  two  great  verses  in  which 
the  Apostle,  leaving  controversy  out  of  sight,  solemnly 
weighs  against  each  other  time  and  eternity,  the  seen 
and  the  unseen,  and  claims  his  inheritance  beyond  ? 
"Our  light  affliction,  which  is  for  the  moment,  worketh 
for  us  more  and  more  exceedingly  an  eternal  weight 
of  glory  ;  while  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are 
seen,  but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen  :  for  the 
tilings  which  are  seen  are  temporal  ;  but  the  things 
which  are  not  seen  are  eternal."  One  can  imagine 
that  he  was  dictating  quick  and  eagerly  as  he  began 
the  sentence  ;  he  "  crowds  and  hurries  and  precipitates  " 
the  grand  contrasts  of  which  his  mind  is  full.  Afflic- 
tion in  any  case  is  outweighed  by  glory,  but  the 
afQiction  in  question  is  a  light  matter,  the  glory  a 
great  weight  :  the  light  affliction  is  but  momentary — 
it  ends  with  death  at  the  latest,  it  may  end  in  the 
coming  of  Jesus  to  anticipate  death  ;  the  weight  of  glory 
is  eternal ;  and  as  if  this  were  not  enough,  the  light 
affliction  which  is  but  for  a  moment  works  out  for. 
us  the  weight  of  glory  which  endures  for  ever,  "  in  1  /  T 
excess  and  to  excess,"  in  a  way  above  conception,  ' 
to  a  degree  above  conception  :  it  works  out  for  us 
the  things  which  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
nor  man's  heart  conceived,  "  all  that  God  has  prepared 
for  them  that  love  Him  "  (i  Cor.  ii.  9).  If  Paul  spoke 
fast  and  with  beating  heart  as  he  crowded  all  this 
into  two  brief  lines,  we  can  well  believe  that  the  pressure 
was  relaxed,  and  that  the  pen  moved  more  steadily 
and  slowly  over  the  contemplative  words  that  follow : 
"while  we  look  not   to    the    things  which   are    seen, 


I70     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

but  to  the  things  which  are  not  seen  :  for  the  things 
which  are  seen  are  temporal,  but  the  things  Vv^hich  are 
not  seen  are  eternal."  This  sentence  is  sometimes 
translated  conditionally  :  '*  provided  we  look,"  etc.  This 
is  legitimate,  but  unnecessary.  The  Apostle  is  speak- 
ing, in  the  first  instance,  of  himself,  and  the  looking 
is  taken  for  granted.  The  look  is  not  merely  equiva- 
lent to  vision  ;  it  means  that  the  unseen  is  the  goal 
[of  him  who  looks.  The  eye  is  to  be  directed  to  it, 
I  5  'not  as  an  indifferent  object,  but  as  a  mark  to  aim 
;  at,  an  end  to  attain.  This  observation  goes  some  way 
to  limit  the  apphcation  of  the  whole  passage.  The 
contrast  of  things  seen  and  things  unseen  is  some- 
times taken  in  a  latitude  which  deprives  it  of  much  of 
its  force  :  psychology  and  metaph3'sics  are  dragged  in 
to  define  and  to  confuse  the  Apostle's  thought.  But 
everything  here  is  practical.  The  things  seen  are  to 
/  all  intents  and  purposes  that  tempest-tossed  life  of 
which  St.  Paul  has  been  speaking,  that  daily  dying, 
that  pressure,  perplexity,  persecution,  and  downcasting, 
which  are  for  the  present  his  lot.  To  these  he  does 
not  look  :  in  comparison  with  that  to  which  he  does 
look,  these  are  a  light  and  momentary  affliction  which 

5  is  not  worth  a  thought.  Similarly,  the  things  unseen 
are  not  everything,  indefinitely,  which  is  invisible  ;  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  they  are  the  glory  of  Christ. 
It   is    on    this  the  Apostle's  eye  is   fixed,   this   which 

i  is  his  goal.  The  stormy  life,  even  when  most  is  made 
of  its  storms,  passes  ;  but  Christ's  glory  can  never  pass. 
It  is  infinite,  inconceivable,  eternal.  There  is  an  inherit- 
ance in  it  for  all  who  keep  their  eyes  upon  it,  and, 
sustained  by  a  hope  so  high,  bear  the  daily  death  of 
a  life  Hke  Paul's  as  a  light  and  momentary  affliction. 
The  connexion  between  the  two  is  so  close  that  the 


iv.7-i8.]  THE   VICTORY  OF  FAITH  171 

one  is  said  to  work  for  us  the  other.  By  divine 
appointment  they  are  united  ;  fellowship  with  Jesus 
is  fellowship  all  through — in  the  daily  dying,  which 
soon  has  done  its  worst,  and  then  in  the  endless  life. 
We  may  say,  if  we  please,  that  the  glory  is  the  reward 
of  the  suffering  ;  it  would  be  truer  to  say  that  it  was  >/' 
its  compensation,  truer  still  that  it  was  its  fruit.  There 
is  a  vital  connexion  between  them,  but  no  one  can 
imagine  he  is  reading  Paul's  thought  who  should  find 
here  the  idea  that  the  trivial  service  of  man  can  make 
God  his  debtor  for  so  vast  a  sum.  The  excellency 
of  the  power  which  raises  the  earthen  vessel  to  this 
height  of  faith,  hope,  and  inspiration  is  itself  God's, 
and  God's  alone. 

Distrust  of  the  supernatural,  insi stance  on  the  pre- 
sent and  the  practical,  and  the  pride  of  a  self-styled 
common  sense,  have  done  much  to  rob  modern  Chris- 
tianity of  this  vast  horizon,  to  blind  it  to  this  heavenly 
vision.  But  wherever  the  life  of  Jesus  is  being  mani- 
fested in  mortal  flesh — wherever  in  His  service  and 
for  His  sake  men  and  women  die  daily,  wearing  out 
nature,  but  with  spirit  ceaselessly  renewed — there  the 
unseen  becomes  real  again.  Such  people  know. that 
what  they  do  is  not  for  one  dead,  but  for  One  who 
lives;  they  know  that  the  daily  inspirations  they 
receive,  the  hopes,  the  deliverances,  are  wrought  in 
them,  not  by  themselves,  but  by  One  who  has  all  power 
in  heaven  and  on  earth.  The  things  that  are  unseen 
and  eternal  stand  out  as  what  they  are  in  relation  to 
lives  like  these  ;  to  other  lives,  they  have  no  relation 
at  all.  A  worldly  and  selfish  career  does  not  work 
out  an  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory,  and 
therefore  to  the  worldly  and  selfish  man  heaven  is 
for  ever  an   unpractical,  incredible  thing.     But  it  not 


172     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

only  comes  out  in  its  brightness,  it  comes  out  as  a 
mighty  inspiration  and  support,  to  every  one  who 
bears  about  in  his  body  the  dying  of  Jesus ;  as  he 
fastens  his  eye  upon  it,  he  takes  heart  anew,  and  in 
spite  of  daily  dying  **  faints  not." 


XIII 


THE  CHRISTIAN  HOPE 

"  For  we  know  that  if  the  earthly  house  of  our  tabernacle  be  dis- 
solved, we  have  a  building  from  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal,  in  the  heavens.  For  verily  in  this  we  groan,  longing  to  be 
clothed  upon  with  our  habitation  which  is  from  heaven  :  if  so  be  that 
being  clothed  we  shall  not  be  found  naked.  For  indeed  we  that  are 
in  this  tabernacle  do  groan,  being  burdened ;  not  for  that  we  would 
be  unclothed,  but  that  we  would  be  clothed  upon,  that  what  is  mortal 
may  be  swallowed  up  of  life.  Now  He  that  wrought  us  for  this  very 
thing  is  God,  who  gave  unto  us  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit.  Being 
therefore  always  of  good  courage,  and  knowing  that,  whilst  we  are  at 
home  in  the  body,  we  are  absent  from  the  Lord  (for  we  walk  by  faith, 
not  by  sight)  ;  we  are  of  good  courage,  I  say,  and  are  willing  rather 
to  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  to  be  at  home  with  the  Lord. 
Wherefore  also  we  make  it  our  aim,  whether  at  home  or  absent, 
to  be  well-pleasing  unto  Him.  For  we  must  all  be  made  manifest 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ;  that  each  one  may  receive  the 
things  done  in  the  body,  according  to  what  he  hath  done,  whether 
it  be  good  or  bad.'' — 2  Cor.  v.  i-io  (R.V.). 

THAT  outlook  on  the  future,  which  at  the  close  of 
chap.  iv.  is  presented  in  the  most  general  terms, 
is  here  carried  out  by  the  Apostle  into  more  definite 
detail.  The  passage  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  in 
his  writings,  and  has  received  the  most  various  inter- 
pretations ;  yet  the  first  impression  it  leaves  on  a 
simple  reader  is  probably  as  near  the  truth  as  the 
subtlest  ingenuity  of  exegesis.  It  is  indeed  to  such 
first  impressions  that  one  often  returns  when  the  mind 
has  ceased  to  sway  this  way  and  that  under  the  impact 
of  conflicting  arguments. 

173 


174     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

The  Apostle  has  been  speaking  about  his  life  as  a 
daily  dying,  and  in  the  first  verse  of  this  chapter  he 
looks  at  the  possibility  that  this  dying  may  be  consum- 
mated in  death.  It  is  only  a  possibility,  for  to  the  end 
of  his  life  it  was  aUva3^s  conceivable  that  Christ  might 
come,  and  forestall  the  last  enemy.  Still,  it  is  a 
possibility  ;  the  earthly  house  of  our  tabernacle  may 
be  dissolved  ;  the  tent  in  which  we  live  may  be  taken 
down.  With  what  hope  does  the  Apostle  confront  such 
a  contingency  ?  "  If  this  befall  us,"  he  says,  "  we  have 
a  building  from  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal,  in  the  heavens."  Every  word  here  points  the 
contrast  between  this  new  house  and  the  old  one,  and 
points  it  in  favour  of  the  new.  The  old  was  a  tent ;  the 
new  is  a  building :  the  old,  though  not  literally  made 
with  hands,  had  many  of  the  qualities  and  defects  of 
manufactured  articles ;  the  new  is  God's  work  and  God's 
gift :  the  old  was  perishable ;  the  new  is  eternal. 
When  Paul  says  we  have  this  house  in  the  heavens^  it 
is  plain  that  it  is  not  heaven  itself;  it  is  a  new  body 
which  replaces  and  surpasses  the  old.  It  is  in  the 
heavens  in  the  sense  that  it  is  God's  gift ;  it  is  some- 
thing which  He  has  for  us  where  He  is,  and  which  we 
shall  wear  there.  ''We  have  it  "  means  "it  is  ours  "  ; 
any  more  precise  definition  must  be  justified  on  grounds 
extraneous  to  the  text. 

The  second  verse  brings  us  to  one  of  the  ambiguities 
of  the  passage.  "  For  verily,"  our  R.V.  reads,  "  in 
this  we  groan,  longing  to  be  clothed  upon  with  our 
habitation  which  is  from  heaven."  The  meaning  which 
the  English  reader  finds  in  the  words  "in  this  we 
groan  "  is  in  all  probability  "  in  our  present  body  we 
groan."  This  is  also  the  meaning  defended  by  Meyer, 
and  by  many  scholars.     But  it  cannot  be  denied  that 


^  i-io.]  THE  CHRISTIAN  HOPE  l^S 


iv  TovTw  does  not  naturally  refer  to  17  iirtyeLo^  rjfMcbu 
OLKLa  Tov  aK/]vou<;.     If  it  means  "  in  this  body,"  it  must 
be  attached  specially  to  (TK)]vou<i,  and  aKi'jvovi  is  only 
a  subordinate  word  in  the  clause.     Elsewhere  in  the 
New  Testament  iv  tovtm  means  "  on  this  account,"  or 
"  for  this  reason  "  (see  i  Cor.  iv.  4  ;  John  xvi.  30  :  'Ev 
TOVT(p  TKJTevoiiev  on  (Itto  ©€ov  ef  r^X^e?),  and  I  prefer  to 
take  it  in  this  sense  here  :  "  For  this  cause— ?>.,  because 
we  are  the  heirs  of  such  a  hope — we  groan,  longing 
to  be  clothed  upon  with  our  habitation  which  is  from 
heaven."     If  Paul  had    no  hope,   he   would    not  sigh!  y^:/-/ 
for  the  future ;  but  the  very  longing  which  pressed  the  (futt^uc^ 
sighs   from   his  bosom  became  itself  a  witness  to  the  /  tte~  >< 
glory  which  awaited  him.^  The  same  argument,  it  has^  ?rr  /O 
often  been  pointed    out,  is  found  in   Rom.   viii.   19  ff. 
The  earnest  expectation    of  the  creation,   waiting   for 
the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  is  evidence  that 
this  manifestation  will   in   due  time   take  place.     The 
spiritual  instincts  are  prophetic.     They  have  not  been 
implanted  in  the  soul  by  God  only  to  be  disappointed. 
It  is  of  the  longing  hope  of  immortality — that  very  I 
hope  which  is  in  question  here — that  Jesus  says:  "Ifj 
it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you." 

The  third  verse  states  the  great  gain  which  lies  in 
the  fulfilment  of  this  hope  :  "  Since,  of  course,  being 
clothed  [with  this  new  body],  we  shall  not  be  found 
naked  [i.e.,  without  any  body]."  I  cannot  think,  especi- 
ally looking  on  to  ver.  4,  that  these  two  verses  (2  and  3) 
mean  anything  else  than  that  Paul  longs  for  Christ  to 
come  before  death.  If  Christ  comes  first,  the  Apostle 
will  receive  the  new  body  by  the  transformation,  instead 
of  the  putting  off,  of  the  old  ;  he  will,  so  to  speak,  put  it 
on  above  the  old  (eTrevSvcraadat)  ;  he  will  be  spared  the 
shuddering  fear  of  dying ;  he  will  not  know  what  it  is 


176     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

to  have  the  old  tent  taken  down,  and  to  be  left  house- 
less and  naked.  We  do  not  need  to  investigate  the 
opinions  of  the  Hebrews  or  the  Greeks  about  the 
condition  of  souls  in  Hades  in  order  to  understand 
these  words ;  the  conception,  figurative  as  it  is,  carries 
its  own  meaning  and  impression  to  every  one.  It  is 
reiterated,  rather  than  proved,  in  the  fourth  verse  :  ^ 
"  For  we  who  are  in  the  tabernacle  groan  also,  being 
burdened,  in  that  our  will  is  not  to  be  unclothed,  but 
to  be  clothed  upon,  that  what  is  mortal  may  be 
swallowed  up  of  life."  It  is  natural  to  take  /Sapovixevot 
('*  being  burdened  ")  as  referring  to  the  weight  of  care 
and  suffering  by  which  men  are  oppressed  while  in  the 
body ;  but  here  also,  as  in  the  similar  case  of  ver.  2, 
the  proper  reference  of  the  word  is  forward.  What 
oppresses  Paul,  and  makes  him  sigh,  is  the  intensity 
of  his  desire  to  escape  ''being  unclothed,"  his  immense 
longing  to  see  Jesus  come,  and,  instead  of  passing 
through  the  terrific  experience  of  death,  to  have  the 
corruptible  put  on  incorruption,  and  the  mortal  put  on 
immortality,  without  that  trial. 

This  seems  plain  enough,  but  we  must  remember 
that  the  confidence  which  Paul  has  been  expressing  in 
the  first  verse  is  meant  to  meet  the  very  case  in  which 
this  desire  is  not  gratified,  the  case  in  which  death  has 
to  be  encountered,  and  the  tabernacle  taken  down.  *'  1/ 
this  should  befall  us,"  he  says,  **  we  have  another  body 
awaiting  us,  far  better  than  that  which  we  leave,  and 
hence  we  are  confident."  The  confidence  which  this 
hope  inspires  would  naturally,  we  think,  be  most 
perfect,  if  in  the  very  act  of  dissolution  the  new  body 
were  assumed ;  if  death  were  the  initial   stage   in  the 

'  The  true  rendering  here  is  that  in  the  margin  of  the  R.V. 


V.  i-io.]  THE  CHRISTIAN  HOPE  177 

transformation  scene  in  which  all  that  is  mortal  is 
swallowed  up  by  life ;  if  it  were,  not  the  ushering  of 
the  Christian  into  a  condition  of  "  nakedness,"  which, 
temporary  though  it  be,  is  a  mere  blank  to  the  mind  and 
imagination,  but  his  admission  to  celestial  life ;  if  "  to 
be  absent  from  the  body  "  were  immediately,  and  in  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  words,  the  same  thing  as  "to  be  at 
home  with  the  Lord."  This  is,  in  point  of  fact,  the 
sense  in  which  the  passage  is  understood  by  a  good  many 
scholars,  and  those  who  read  it  so  find  in  it  a  decisive 
turning-point  in  the  Apostle's  teaching  on  the  last  things. 
In  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  they  say, 
and  indeed  in  the  First  to  the  Corinthians  also,  Paul's 
eschatology  was  still  essentially  Jewish.  The  Christian ' 
dead  are  ol  KOLfico/ievoij  or  ol  Kot/jLi]6ivT€<;  ("  those  that 
sleep  ")  ;  nothing  definite  is  said  of  their  condition  ;  only 
it  is  implied  that  they  do  not  get  the  incorruptible  body 
till  Jesus  comes  again  and  raises  them  from  the  dead. 
In  other  words,  those  who  die  before  the  Parousia 
have  the  soul-chilling  prospect  of  an  unknown  term  of 
"  nakedness."  Here  this  terror  is  dispelled  by  the 
new  revelation  made  to  the  Apostle,  or  the  new  insight 
to  which  he  has  attained  :  there  is  no  longer  any  such 
interval  between  death  and  glory;  the  heavenly  body 
is  assumed  at  once  ;  the  state  called  KOi^aaOau  (*'  being 
asleep " )  vanishes  from  the  future.  Sabatier  and 
Schmiedel,  who  adopt  this  view,  draw  extreme  conse- 
quences from  it.  It  marks  an  advance,  according  to 
Schmiedel,  of  the  highest  importance.  The  religious 
postulate  of  an  uninterrupted  communion  of  life  with 
Christ,  violated  by  the  conception  of  a  KotfiaaOac^  or 
falling  asleep,  is  satisfied  ;  Christ's  descent  from  heaven, 
and  a  simultaneous  resurrection  and  judgment,  become 
superfluous;  judgment  is  transferred  to  the  moment  of 

12 


178     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

death,  or  rather  to  the  process  of  development  during 
life  on  earth ;  and,  finally,  the  place  of  eternal  blessed- 
ness passes  from  earth  (the  Jewish  and  early  Christian 
opinion,  probably  shared  by  Paul,  as  he  gives  no  indica- 
tion of  the  contrary)  to  heaven.  All  this,  it  is  further 
pointed  out,  is  an  approximation,  more  or  less  close, 
to  the  Greek  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
and  may  even  have  been  excogitated  in  part  under  its 
influence ;  and  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  half-way  house 
between  the  Pharisaic  eschatology  of  First  Thessalonians 
and  the  perfected  Christian  doctrine  of  a  passage  like 
John  V.  24 :  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that 
heareth  My  word,  and  believeth  Him  that  sent  Me, 
hath  eternal  life,  and  cometh  not  into  judgment,  but 
hath  passed  out  of  death  into  life." 

There  is  no  objection  to  be  made  in  principle  to 
the  idea  that  the  Apostle's  outlook  on  the  future  was 
subject  to  modification — that  he  was  capable  of  attain- 
ing, or  even  did  attain,  a  deeper  insight,  with  experi- 
ence, into  the  connexion  between  that  which  is  and 
that  which  is  to  come.  But  it  is  surely  somewhat 
against  the  above  estimate  of  the  alleged  change  here 
that  Paul  himself  seems  to  have  been  quite  unconscious 
of  it.  He  was  not  a  man  whose  mind  wrought  at 
unawares,  and  who  passed  unwittingly  from  one  stand- 
point to  another.  He  was  nothing  if  not  reflective. 
According  to  Sabatier  and  Schmiedel,  he  had  made 
a  revolutionary  change  in  his  opinions — a  change  so 
vast  that  on  account  of  it  Sabatier  reckons  this  Epistle, 
and  especially  this  passage,  the  most  important  in  all 
his  writings  for  the  comprehension  of  his  theological 
development;  and  yet,  side  by  side  with  the  new 
revolutionary  ideas,  uttered  literally  in  the  same  breath 
with    them,    we    find    the    old    standing   undisturbed. 


V.  i-io.]  THE   CHRISTIAN  HOPE  179 

The  simultaneous  resurrection  and  judgment,  according 
to  Schmiedel,  should  be  impossible  now  ;  but  in  chap, 
iv.  14  the  resurrection  appears  precisely  as  in  Thessa- 
lonians,  and  in  chap.  v.  10  the  judgment,  precisely  as 
in  all  his  Epistles  from  the  first  to  the  last.  As  for  the 
inconsistency  between  going  to  be  at  home  with  the 
Lord  and  the  Lord's  coming,  it  also  recurs  in  later 
years :  Paul  writes  to  the  Philippians  that  he  has  a 
desire  to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ ;  and  in  the 
same  letter,  that  the  Lord  is  at  hand,  and  that  we  wait 
for  the  Saviour  from  heaven.  Probably  the  misleading 
idea  in  the  study  of  the  whole  subject  has  been  the 
assumption  that  the  Koifiw^evoL — the  dead  in  Christ — 
were  in  some  dismal,  dreary  condition  which  could 
fairly  be  described  as  "  nakedness."  There  is  not  a 
word  in  the  New  Testament  which  favours  this  idea. 
Where  we  see  men  die  in  faith,  we  see  something  quite 
different.  "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  Me  in  Paradise." 
"Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit."  '*  I  saw  the  souls  of 
them  w^hich  had  been  slain  for  the  Word  of  God  .  .  . 
and  there  was  given  them,  to  each  one,  a  white  robe." 
When  Paul  speaks  of  those  who  have  fallen  asleep, 
in  First  Thessalonians,  it  is  with  the  express  intention 
of  showing  that  those  who  survive  to  the  Parousia  have 
no  advantage  over  them.  "  Jesus  Christ  died  for  us,"  he 
writes  (i  Thess.  v.  10),  "that,  whether  we  wake  or 
sleep,  we  may  live  together  with  Him."  And  he  uses  one 
most  expressive  word  in  a  similar  connexion  (i  Thess. 
iv.  14)  :  ''Them  also  that  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring 
[afe/.]  with  Him."  Suave  verbnni,  says  Bengel :  dicitur 
de  viventibiis.  May  we  not  say  with  equal  cogency,  not 
only  "de  viventibus,"  but  "  de  viventibus  cw;;z /^sw  "  ? 
Those  who  are  asleep  are  with  Him;  they  are  in 
blessedness  with  Him  ;  what  their  mode  of  existence  is 


i8o     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

it  may  be  impossible  for  us  to  conceive,  but  it  is  certainly 
not  a  thing  to  shrink  from  with  horror.  The  taking 
down  of  the  old  tent  in  which  we  live  here  is  a  thing 
from  which  one  cannot  but  shrink,  and  that  is  why 
Paul  would  rather  have  Christ  come,  and  be  saved  the 
pain  and  fear  of  dying.  With  death  in  view  he  men- 
tions the  new  body  as  the  ground  of  his  confidence, 
because  it  is  the  final  realisation  of  the  Christian  hope, 
the  crown  of  redemption  (Rom.  viii.  23).  But  he  does 
not  mean  to  say  that,  unless  the  new  body  were  granted 
in  the  very  instant  of  dying,  death  would  usher  him 
into  an  appalling  void,  and  separate  him  from  Christ. 
This  assumption,  on  which  the  interpretation  of 
Sabatier  and  Schmiedel  rests,  is  entirely  groundless, 
and  therefore  that  interpretation,  in  spite  of  a  super- 
ficial plausibility,  is  to  be  decidedly  rejected.  It  is  to 
be  rejected  all  the  more  when  we  are  invited  to  see  the 
occasion  which  produced  Paul's  supposed  change  of 
opinion  in  the  danger  which  he  had  lately  incurred  in 
Asia  (chap,  i,  8-10).  Paul,  we  are  to  imagine,  who 
had  always  been  confident  that  he  would  live  to  see  the 
Parousia,  had  come  to  very  close  quarters  with  death, 
and  this  experience  constrained  him  to  seek  in  his 
rehgion  a  hope  and  consolation  more  adequate  to  the 
terribleness  of  death  than  any  he  had  yet  conceived. 
Hence  the  mighty  advance  explained  above.  But  is  it 
not  absurd  to  say  that  a  man,  whose  life  was  constantly 
in  peril,  had  never  thought  of  death  till  this  time  ? 
Can  any  one  seriously  believe  that,  as  Sabatier  puts 
it,  ''the  image  of  death,  with  which  the  Apostle  had  not 
hitherto  concerned  himself,  [here]  enters  for  the  first 
time  within  the  scope  of  his  doctrine  "  ?  Can  any  one 
who  knows  the  kind  of  man  Paul  was  deliberately 
suggest  that  fear  and   self-pity  conferred  on   him   an 


V.  i-io.]  THE  CHRISTIAN  HOPE  i8i 


enlargement  of  spiritual  vision  wliicli  no  sympathy  for 
bereaved  disciples,  and  no  sense  of  fellowship  with 
those  who  had  fallen  asleep  in  Jesus,  availed  to  bestow  ? 
Believe  this  who  will,  it  seems  utterly  incredible  to  me. 
The  passage  says  nothing  inconsistent  with  Thessalo- 
nians,  or  First  Corinthians,  or  Philippians,  or  Second 
Timothy,  about  the  last  things  :  it  expresses  in  a  special 
situation  the  constant  Christian  faith  and  hope — **  the 
redemption  of  the  body  "  ;  that  is  the  possession  of  the 
believer  (exo/uuev) ;  it  is  ours ;  and  the  Apostle  is  not 
concerned  to  fix  the  moment  of  time  at  which  hope  be- 
comes sight.  ''Come  what  will,"  he  says,  "come  death 
itself,  this  is  ours  ;  and  because  it  is  ours,  though  we 
dread  the  possible  necessity  of  having  to  strip  off  the 
old  body,  and  would  fain  escape  it,  we  do  not  allow  it 
to  dismay  us." 

The  Apostle  cannot  look  to  the  end  of  the  Christian 
hope  without  referring  to  its  condition  and  guarantee. 
"  He  that  wrought  us  for  this  very  thing  is  God,  who 
gave  us  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit."  The  future  is  never 
considered  in  the  New  Testament  in  a  speculative 
fashion  ;  nothing  could  be  less  like  an  apostle  than  to 
discuss  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  The  question  of 
life  beyond  death  is  for  Paul  not  a  metaphysical  but  a 
Christian  question ;  the  pledge  of  anything  worth  the 
name  of  life  is  not  the  inherent  constitution  of  human 
nature,  but  the  possession  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  With- 
out the  Spirit,  Paul  could  have  had  no  such  certainty, 
no  such  triumphant  hope,  as  he  had  ;  without  the  Spirit 
there  can  be  no  such  certainty  yet.  Hence  it  is  idle 
to  criticise  the  Christian  hope  on  purely  speculative 
grounds,  and  as  idle  to  try  on  such  grounds  to  establish 
it.  That  hope  is  of  a  piece  with  the  experience  which 
comes  when  the  Spirit  of  Him  who  raised  up  Christ 


1 82     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

from  the  dead  dwells  in  us,  and  apart  from  this  experi- 
ence it  cannot  even  be  understood.  But  to  say  that 
there  is  no  eternal  life  except  in  Christ  is  not  to  accept 
what  is  called  "  conditional  immortality  "  ;  it  is  only  to 
accept  conditional  glory. 

The  fifth  verse  marks  a  pause  :  in  the  three  which 
follow  Paul  describes  the  mood  in  which,  possessed  of 
the  Christian  hope,  he  confronts  all  the  conditions  of 
the  present  and  the  alternatives  of  the  future.  "We 
are  of  good  courage  at  all  times,"  he  says.  "We  know 
that  while  we  are  at  home  in  the  body  we  are  away 
from  home  as  far  as  the  Lord  is  concerned — at  a 
distance  from  Him."  This  does  not  mean  that  fellow- 
ship is  broken,  or  that  the  soul  is  separated  from  the 
love  of  Christ ;  it  only  means  that  earth  is  not  heaven, 
and  that  Paul  is  painfully  conscious  of  the  fact.  This 
is  what  is  proved  by  ver.  7  :  We  are  absent  from  the 
Lord,  our  true  home,  "  for  in  this  world  we  are  walking 
through  the  realm  of  faith,  not  through  that  of  actual 
appearance."^  There  is  a  w^orld,  a  mode  of  existence, 
to  which  Paul  looks  forward,  which  is  one  of  actual 
appearance  ;  he  will  be  in  Christ's  presence  there,  and 
see  Him  face  to  face  (i  Cor.  xiii.  12).  But  the  world 
through  which  his  course  lies  meanwhile  is  not  that 
world  of  immediate  presence  and  manifestation  ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  a  world  of  faith,  which  realises  that 
future  world  of  manifestation  only  by  a  strong  spiritual 
conviction  ;  it  is  through  a  faith-land  that  Paul's  journey 
leads  him.  All  along  the  way  his  faith  keeps  him  in 
good  heart ;  nay,  when  he  thinks  of  all  that  it  ensures, 

'  This  translation  is  Schmiedel's.  For  the  use  of  dia,  cf.  Rev.  xxi.  24  : 
Kai  TrepiTarrjaovaiv  ra  ^dvr\  dia  rod  (ptoros  avTrjs.  It  cannot  mean  "  by '' 
faith,  in  the  sense  of  "according  to"  faith,  or  as  faith  directs.  Nor 
can  it  be  proved  that  eloos  ever  means  "sight." 


V.  I -10.]  THE  CHRISTIAN  HOPE  183 

of  all  that  is  guaranteed  by  the  Spirit,  he  is  willing 
rather  to  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  to  be  at  home 
with  the  Lord. 

"For,  ah!  the  Master  is  so  fair, 
Ilis  smile  so  sweet  on  banished  men, 
That  they  who  meet  it  unaware 
Can  never  turn  to  earth  again  ; 
And  they  who  see  Him  risen  afar, 
At  God's  right  hand  to  welcome  them, 
Forgetful  stand  of  home  and  land, 
Desiring  fair  Jerusalem." 

If  he  had  to  make  his  choice,  it  would  incline  this  way, 
rather  than  the  other;  but  it  is  not  his  to  make  a 
choice,  and  so  he  does  not  express  himself  uncon- 
ditionally. The  whole  tone  of  the  passage  anticipates 
that  of  Phil.  i.  21  ff  :  ''  For  to  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and 
to  die  is  gain.  But  if  to  live  in  the  flesh, — if  this  is 
the  fruit  of  my  work,  then  what  I  shall  choose  I  wot 
not.  But  I  am  in  a  strait  betwixt  the  two,  havino:  the 
desire  to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ ;  for  it  is  very 
far  better :  yet  to  abide  in  the  flesh  is  more  needful  for 
your  sake."  Nothing  could  be  less  like  the  Apostle 
than  a  monkish,  unmanly  wish  to  die.  He  exulted  in 
his  calling.  It  was  a  joy  to  him  above  all  joys  to 
speak  to  men  of  the  love  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  But 
nothing,  on  the  other  hand,  could  be  less  like  him  than 
to  lose  sight  of  the  future  in  the  present,  and  to  forget 
amid  the  service  of  men  the  glory  which  is  to  be 
revealed.  He  stood  between  two  worlds ;  he  felt  the 
whole  attraction  of  both  ;  in  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit  he 
knew  that  he  had  an  inheritance  there  as  well  as  here. 
It  is  this  consciousness  of  the  dimensions  of  life  that 
makes  him  so  immensely  interesting ;  he  never  wrote 
a  dull  word ;  his  soul  was  stirred  incessantly  by  im- 
pulses from  earth  and  from  heaven,  swept  by  breezes 


i84     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

from  the  dark  and  troubled  sea  of  man's  life,  touched 
by  inspirations  from  the  radiant  heights  where  Christ 
dwelt.  We  do  not  need  to  be  afraid  of  the  reproach  of 
"  other  worldliness "  if  we  seek  to  live  in  this  same 
spirit ;  the  reproach  is  as  false  as  it  is  threadbare.  It 
would  be  an  incalculable  gain  if  we  could  recover  the 
primitive  hope  in  something  like  its  primitive  strength. 
It  would  not  make  us  false  to  our  duties  in  the  world, 
but  it  would  give  us  the  victory  over  the  world. 

In  bringing  this  subject  to  a  close,  the  Apostle  strikes 
a  graver  note.  A  certain  moral,  as  well  as  a  certain 
emotional  temper,  is  evoked  by  the  Christian  hope. 
It  fills  men  with  courage,  and  with  spiritual  yearnings  ; 
it  braces  them  also  to  moral  earnestness  and  vigour. 
"  Wherefore  also  we  make  it  our  aim  " — literally,  we 
are  ambitious,  the  only  lawful  ambition — "  whether 
at  home  or  absent,  to  be  well-pleasing  unto  Him." 
Modes  of  being  are  not  of  so  much  consequence.  It 
may  agree  with  a  man's  feelings  better  to  live  till 
Christ  comes,  or  to  die  before  He  comes,  and  go  at 
once  to  be  with  Him  ;  but  the  main  thing  is,  in  what- 
ever mode  of  being,  to  be  accepted  in  His  sight.  "  For 
we  must  all  be  manifested  before  the  judgment-seat 
of  Christ,  that  each  one  may  receive  the  things  done 
in  the  body,  according  to  what  he  hath  done,  whether 
it  be  good  or  bad."  The  Christian  hope  is  not  clouded 
by  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ ;  it  is  sustained  at  the 
holy  height  which  befits  it.  We  are  forbidden  to 
count  upon  it  hghtly.  "  Every  man,"  we  are  reminded, 
''that  hath  this  hope  set  on  Him  purifieth  himself 
even  as  He  is  pure."  It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to 
seek  a  formal  reconciliation  of  this  verse  with  Paul's 
teaching  that  the  faithful  are  accepted  in  Christ  Jesus ; 
we   can    feel   that    both    must    be    true.      And   if  the 


V.  1-io.J  THE  CHRISTIAN  HOPE  185 

doctrine  of  justification  freely,  by  God's  grace,  is  that 
which  has  to  be  preached  to  sinful  men,  the  doctrine  of 
exact  retribution,  taught  in  this  passage,  has  its  main 
interest  and  importance  for  Christians.  It  is  Chris- 
tians only  who  are  in  view  here,  and  the  law  of  requital 
is  so  exact  that  every  one  is  said  to  get  back,  to  carry 
off  for  himself,  the  very  things  done  in  the  body.  In 
this  world,  we  have  not  seen  the  last  of  anything. 
We  shall  all  be  manifested  before  the  judgment-seat 
of  Christ ;  all  that  we  have  hidden  shall  be  revealed. 
The  books  are  shut  now,  but  they  will  be  opened 
then.  The  things  we  have  done  in  the  body  will 
come  back  to  us,  whether  good  or  bad.  Every  pious 
thought,  and  every  thought  of  sin  ;  every  secret  prayer, 
and  every  secret  curse ;  every  unknown  deed  of 
charity,  and  every  hidden  deed  of  selfishness :  we  will 
see  them  all  again,  and  though  we  have  not  remem- 
bered them  for  years,  and  perhaps  have  forgotten  them 
altogether,  we  shall  have  to  acknowledge  that  they  are 
our  own,  and  take  them  to  ourselves.  Is  not  that  a 
solemn  thing  to  stand  at  the  end  of  life?  Is  it  not 
a  true  thing  ?  Even  those  who  can  say  with  the , 
Apostle,  '*  Being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with 
God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  rejoice  in 
hope  of  His  glory,"  know  how  true  it  is.  Nay,  they 
most  of  all  know,  for  they  understand  better  than  others 
the  holiness  of  God,  and  they  are  especially  addressed 
here.  The  moral  consciousness  is  not  maintained  in 
its  vigour  and  integrity  if  this  doctrine  of  retribution 
disappears ;  and  if  we  are  called  by  a  passage  like 
this  to  encourage  ourselves  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the 
hope  which  He  has  revealed,  we  are  warned  also  that 
evil  cannot  dwell  with  God,  and  that  He  will  by  no 
means  clear  the  guilty. 


XIV 

THE  MEASURE  OF  CHRIST'S  LOVE 

"Knowing  therefore  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  we  persuade  men,  but 
we  are  made  manifest  unto  God ;  and  I  hope  that  we  are  made 
manifest  also  in  your  consciences.  We  are  not  again  commending 
ourselves  unto  you,  but  speak  as  giving  you  occasion  of  glorying  on 
our  behalf,  that  ye  may  have  wherewith  to  answer  them  that  glorv 
in  appearance  and  not  in  heart.  For  whether  we  are  beside  ourselves, 
it  is  unto  God  ;  or  whether  we  are  of  sober  mind,  it  is  unto  you. 
For  the  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us;  because  we  thus  judge,  that 
One  died  for  all,  therefore  all  died  ;  and  He  died  for  all,  that  they 
which  live  should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  Him  who 
for  their  sakes  died  and  rose  again." — 2  Cor.  v.  II-15  (R.V.). 

THE  Christian  hope  of  immortahty  is  elevated  and 
solemnised  by  the  thought  of  the  judgment-seat 
of  Christ.  This  is  no  strange  thought  to  St.  Paul ; 
many  a  time  he  has  set  himself  in  imagination  in  that 
great  presence,  and  let  the  awe  of  it  descend  upon  his 
heart.  This  is  what  he  means  when  he  writes,  "  Know- 
ing the  fear  of  the  Lord."  Like  the  pastors  addressed 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  he  exercises  his  office 
as  one  who  must  render  an  account.  In  this  spirit, 
he  says,  he  persuades  men.  A  motive  so  high,  and 
so  stern  in  its  purifying  power,  no  minister  of  Christ 
can  afford  to  dispense  with.  We  need  something  to 
suppress  self-seeking,  to  keep  conscience  vigorous,  to 
preserve  the  message  of  reconciliation  itself  from  de- 
generating into  good-natured   indifference,  to  prohibit 

186 


V.  II-ISO     THE  MEASURE  OF  CHRIST'S  LOVE  187 

immoral  compromises  and  superficial  healing  of  the 
soul's  hurts.  Let  us  familiarise  our  minds,  by  medita- 
tion, with  the  fear  due  to  Christ  the  judge,  and  a  new 
element  of  power  will  enter  into  our  service,  making 
it  at  once  more  urgent  and  more  wholesome  than  it 
could  otherwise  be. 

The  meaning  of  the  words  "  we  persuade  men  "  is 
not  at  once  clear.  Interpreters  generally  find  in  them 
a  combination  of  two  ideas — we  try  to  win  men  for 
the  Gospel,  and  we  try  to  convince  them  of  our  own 
purity  of  motive  in  our  evangelistic  work.  The  word 
is  suitable  enough  to  express  either  idea ;  and  though 
it  is  straining  it  to  make  it  carry  both,  the  first  is 
suggested  by  the  general  tenor  of  the  passage,  and  the 
second  seems  to  be  demanded  by  what  follows.  ''  We 
try  to  convince  men  of  our  disinterestedness,  but  we 
do  not  need  to  try  to  convince  God ;  we  have  been 
manifested  to  Him  already;^  and  we  trust  also  that 
we  have  been  manifested  in  your  consciences."  Paul 
was  well  aware  of  the  hostility  with  which  he  was 
regarded  by  some  of  the  Corinthians,  but  he  is  confident 
that,  when  his  appeal  is  tried  in  the  proper  court, 
decision  must  be  given  in  his  favour,  and  he  hopes  that 
this  has  really  been  done  at  Corinth.  Often  we  do 
not  give  people  in  his  position  the  benefit  of  a  fair 
trial.  It  is  not  in  our  consciences  they  are  arraigned 
— t.e.y  in  God's  sight,  and  according  to  God's  law — but 
at  the  bar  of  our  prejudices,  our  likes  and  dislikes, 
sometimes  even  our  whims  and  caprices.  It  is  not 
their  character  which  is  taken  into  account,  but  some- 
thing quite  irrelevant  to  character.  Paul  did  not  care 
for  such  estimates  as  these.     It  was  nothing  to  him 

'  The  (Pavepuidrjvai  of  the  last  judgment,  ver.  lO,  has  as  good  as  taken 
place — for  God. 


1 88     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

whether  his  appearance  made  a  favourable  impression  on 
those  who  heard  him — whether  they  Uked  his  voice,  his 
gestures,  his  manners,  or  even  his  message.  What  he 
did  care  for  was  to  be  able  to  appeal  to  their  consciences, 
as  he  could  appeal  to  God,  to  whom  all  things  were  naked 
and  opened,  that  in  the  discharge  of  his  functions  as  an 
evangelist  he  had  been  absolutely  simple  and  sincere. 

In    speaking   thus,    he    has    no    intention    of   again 
recommending   himself.      Rather,   as   he    says    with  a 
touch  of  irony,  it  is  for  their  convenience  he  writes; 
he  is  giving  them  occasion  to  boast  on  his  behalf,  that 
when  they  encounter  people  who  boast  in  face  and  not 
in   heart   they  may   not   be  speechless,  but  may  have 
something  to  say  for  themselves — and  for  him.     It  is 
easy  to  read  between  the  lines  here.     The  Corinthians 
had  persons  among  them — Jewish  and  Judaising  teachers 
evidently — who   boasted   **in   face";    in    other  words, 
who  prided   themselves    on    outward   and  visible   dis- 
tinctions,  though,   as   Paul  asserts,   they   had   nothing 
within  to  be  proud  of     There  are  suggestions  of  these 
distinctions  elsewhere,  and  we  can  imagine  the  claims 
men  made,  the  airs  they  gave  themselves,  or  at  least 
the  recognition  they  consented  to  accept,  on  the  ground 
of  them.      Their   eloquence,    their    knowledge    of  the 
Scriptures,    their    Jewish    descent,    their   acquaintance 
with  the  Twelve,   above    all  acquaintance  with   Jesus 
Himself — these  were  their  credentials,  and  of  these  their 
followers   made   much.      Perhaps  even   on    their  own 
ground  Paul  could  have  met  and  routed  most  of  them, 
but  meanwhile  he  leaves  them  in  undisturbed  possession 
of  their  advantages,  such  as  they  are.     He  only  sums 
up  these  advantages  in  the  disparaging  word  "  face," 
or  "  appearance  "  ;    they  are  all  on  the  outside ;    they 
amount  to  "  a  fair  show  in  the  flesh,"  but  no  more.     He 


V.  II-I5.]     THE  MEASURE   OF  CHRIST'S  LOVE  189 

would  not  like  if  Jiis  disciples  could  make  no  better  boast 
of  their  master,  and  all  the  high  things  he  has  written, 
from  chap.  ii.  14  on  to  chap.  v.  10,  especially  his  vindica- 
tion of  the  absolute  purity  of  his  motives,  furnish  them, 
if  they  choose  to  take  it  so,  with  grounds  of  counter- 
boasting,  far  deeper  and  more  spiritual  than  those  of 
his  adversaries.  For  lie  boasts,  not  "  in  appearance, 
but  in  heart."  The  ironical  tone  in  this  is  unmistakable, 
yet  it  is  not  merely  ironical.  From  the  beginning  of 
Christianity  to  this  day.  Churches  have  gathered  round 
men,  and  made  their  boast  in  them.  Too  often  it  has 
been  a  boast  *' in  face,"  and  not  "in  heart" — in  gifts, 
accomplishments,  and  distinctions,  which  may  have 
given  an  outward  splendour  to  the  individual,  but 
which  were  entirely  irrelevant  to  the  possession  of  the 
Christian  spirit.  Often  even  the  imperfections  of  the 
natural  man  have  been  gloried  in,  simply  because  they 
were  his ;  and  the  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic  Churches, 
for  example,  owe  some  of  their  most  distinctive  features 
to  an  exaggerated  appreciation  of  those  very  character- 
istics of  Luther  and  Calvin  which  had  no  Christian 
value.  The  same  thing  is  seen  every  day,  on  a  smaller 
scale,  in  congregations.  People  are  proud  of  their 
minister,  not  for  what  he  is  in  heart,  but  because  he 
is  more  learned,  more  eloquent,  more  naturally  capable, 
than  other  preachers  in  the  same  town.  It  is  a  pity 
when  ministers  themselves,  like  the  Judaists  in  Corinth, 
are  content  to  have  it  so.  The  true  evangelist  or 
pastor  will  choose  rather,  with  St.  Paul,  to  be  taken 
for  what  he  is  as  a  Christian,  and  for  nothing  else ; 
and  if  he  must  be  spoken  about,  he  will  be  spoken  of 
in  this  character,  and  in  no  other.  Nay,  if  it  really 
comes  to  glorying  **in  face,"  he  will  glory  in  his  weak- 
nesses  and    incapacities;    he    will    magnify    the    very 


I90     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

earthenness  of  the  earthen  vessel,  the  very  coarseness 
of  the  clay,  as  a  foil  to  the  power  and  life  of  Christ 
which  dwell  in  it. 

The  connexion  of  ver.  13  with  what  precedes  is 
very  obscure.  Perhaps  as  fair  a  paraphrase  as  any 
would  run  thus:  ''And  well  may  you  boast  of  our 
complete  sincerity  ;  for  whether  we  are  beside  ourselves, 
it  is  to  God  ;  or  whether  we  are  of  sober  mind,  it  is 
unto  you ;  that  is,  in  no  case  is  self-interest  the  motive 
or  rule  of  our  conduct."  Connexion  apart,  there  is  a 
further  difficulty  about  elVe  e^eGT7]ii€v.  The  Revised 
Version  renders  it  "  whether  we  are  beside  ourselves," 
but  in  the  margin  gives  ^^were"  for  "are."  It  makes 
a  very  great  difference  which  tense  we  accept.  If 
the  proper  meaning  is  given  by  "  are,"  the  application 
must  be  to  some  constant  characteristic  of  the  Apostle's 
ministry.  His  enthusiasm,  his  absolute  superiority  to 
common  selfish  considerations  such  as  are  ordinarily 
supreme  in  human  life,  his  resolute  assertion  of  truths 
lying  beyond  the  reach  of  sense,  the  unearthly  flame 
which  burned  unceasingly  in  his  bosom,  and  never 
more  brightly  than  when  he  wrote  the  fourth  and  fifth 
chapters  of  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians — all 
these  constitute  the  temper  which  is  described  as  being 
"  beside  oneself,"  a  kind  of  sacred  madness.  It  was 
in  this  sense  that  the  accusation  of  being  beside  himself 
was  brought  on  a  memorable  occasion  against  Jesus 
(Mark  iii.  21,  i^earrf).  The  disciple  and  the  Master 
alike  seemed  to  those  who  did  not  understand  them  to 
be  in  an  overstrained,  too  highly  wrought  condition 
of  spirit ;  in  the  ardour  of  their  devotion  they  allowed 
themselves  to  be  carried  beyond  all  natural  limits,  and 
it  was  not  improper  to  speak  of  applying  some  kindly 
restraint.      At    first    sight    this    interpretation   seems 


V.  ii-isO     ^^^^  MEASURE   OF  ClIRISTS  LOVE  191 

very  appropriate,  and  I  do  not  think  that  the  tense  of 
€^€(TT7]/i6V  is  dccisive  against  it.^  Those  who  think  it  is 
point  to  the  change  to  the  present  tense  in  the  next 
clause,  ehe  aw^ypovovfiev,  and  allege  that  this  would  have 
no  motive  unless  i^iarrj/jLeu  were  a  true  past.  But  this 
may  be  doubted.  On  the  one  hand,  i^ia-Trj  in  Mark  iii.  21 
can  hardly  mean  anything  but  "  He  is  beside  Him- 
self"— i.e.,  it  is  virtually  a  present;  on  the  other,  the 
grammatical  present  i^Lo-rdjuLeOa  would  not  unambigu- 
ously convey  the  idea  of  madness,  and  would  therefore 
be  inappropriate  here.  But  assuming  that  the  change  of 
tense  has  the  effect  of  making  i^eary/jLev  a  real  past,  and 
that  the  proper  rendering  is  ''  whether  we  were  beside 
ourselves,"  what  is  the  application  then  ?  We  must 
suppose  that  some  definite  occasion  is  before  the  Apostle 
and  his  readers,  on  which  he  had  been  in  an  ecstasy 
(cf.  iv  eKCTTCLarei,  Acts  xi.  5  ;  iyevero  eir  avTov  eKaraaLf;, 
Acts  X.  10),  and  that  his  opponents  availed  themselves  of 
this  experience,  in  which  he  had  passed,  for  a  time,  out 
of  his  own  control,  to  whisper  the  malicious  accusation 
that  he  had  once  not  been  quite  right  in  his  mind,  and 
that  this  explained  much.  The  Apostle,  we  should  have 
to  assume,  admits  the  fact  alleged,  but  protests  against 
the  inference  drawn  from  it,  and  the  use  made  of  the 
inference.  *' I  zvas  beside  myself,"  he  says;  ''but  it 
was  an  experience  which  had  nothing  to  do  with  my 
ministry ;  it  was  between  God  and  my  solitary  self; 
and  to  drag  it  into  my  relations  with  you  is  a  mere 
impertinence."  That  the  ''ecstasis"  in  question  was 
his  vision  of  Jesus  on  the  way  to  Damascus,  and  that 

'  According  to  Winer  e^^arr]  in  Mark.  iii.  21  has  the  present  sense 
=  insatttt;  and  so  it  might  be  with  i^earrjixev  here.  The  verb  occurs 
fifteen  times  in  the  New  Testament,  and  except  in  these  two  passages 
has  always  the  sense  of  being  amazed  or  astonished  beyond  measure 


192     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

his  adversaries  sought  to  discredit  that,  and  the  apostle- 
ship  of  Paul  as  grounded  on  that,  is  one  of  the 
extravagances  of  an  irresponsible  criticism.  Of  all 
experiences  that  ever  befell  him,  his  conversion  is  the 
very  one  which  was  not  solely  his  own  affair  and  God's, 
but  the  affair  of  the  whole  Church ;  and  whereas  he 
speaks  of  his  ecstasies  and  visions  with  evident  reluct- 
ance and  embarrassment,  as  in  chap.  xii.  i  ff ,  or  refuses 
to  speak  of  them  at  all,  as  here  (assuming  this  inter- 
pretation to  be  the  true  one),  he  makes  his  conversion 
and  the  appearance  of  the  Lord  the  very  foundation 
of  his  preaching,  and  treats  of  both  with  the  utmost 
frankness.  It  must  be  something  quite  different  from 
this — something  analogous  perhaps  to  the  speaking 
with  tongues,  in  which  ''  the  understanding  was 
unfruitful,"  but  for  which  Paul  was  distinguished 
(i  Cor.  xiv.  14-18) — that  is  intended  here.  Such  rapt 
conditions  are  certainly  open  to  misinterpretation  ;  and 
as  their  spiritual  value  is  merely  personal,  Paul  decHnes 
to  discuss  any  allusion  to  them,  as  if  it  affected  his 
relation  to  the  Corinthians. 

The  strongest  point  in  favour  of  this  interpretation 
seems  to  me  not  the  tense  of  e^ea-TTj/jLeVy  but  the  use 
of  &ea> :  "  it  is  unto  God."  If  the  meaning  were  the 
one  first  suggested,  and  the  madness  were  the  holy 
enthusiasm  of  the  Evangelist,  that  would  be  distinctly 
a  thing  which  did  concern  the  Corinthians,  and  it  would 
not  be  natural  to  withdraw  it  from  their  censure  as  God's 
affair.  Nevertheless,  one  can  conceive  Paul  saying  that 
he  was  answerable  for  his  extravagances,  not  to  them, 
but  to  his  Master;  and  that  his  sober-mindedness,  at 
all  events,  had  their  interests  in  view.  On  a  survey 
of  the  whole  case,  and  especially  with  Mark  iii.  21,  and 
the  New  Testament  use  of  the  verb  ef/crrayLtat  before 


V.  11-15.]     THE  MEASURE  OF  CHRISTS  LOVE  193 

US,  I  incline  to  think  that  the  text  of  the  Revised  Version 
is  to  be  preferred  to  the  margin.  The  "  being  beside 
himself"  with  which  Paul  was  charged  will  not,  then, 
be  an  isolated  incident  in  his  career — an  incident  which 
Jewish  teachers,  remembering  the  ecstasies  of  Peter 
and  John,  could  hardly  object  to — but  the  spiritual 
tension  in  which  he  habitually  lived  and  wrought  The 
language,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  admits  of  this  inter- 
pretation, and  it  brings  the  Apostle's  experience  into  line, 
not  only  with  that  of  his  Master,  but  with  that  of  many 
who  have  succeeded  him.  But  how  great  and  rare  is 
the  self-conquest  of  the  man  who  can  say  that  in  his 
enthusiasm  and  his  sobriety  alike — when  he  is  beside 
himself,  and  when  his  spirit  is  wholly  subject  to  him — 
the  one  thing  which  never  intrudes,  or  troubles  his 
singleness  of  mind,  is  the  thought  of  his  own  private 
ends. 

In  the  verses  which  follow,  Paul  lets  us  into  the 
secret  of  this  unselfishness,  this  freedom  from  by-ends 
and  ambition  :  *'  For  the  love  of  Christ  constraineth 
us  ;  because  we  thus  judge,  that  One  died  for  all,  there- 
fore all  [of  them]  died."  **  Constraineth  "  is  one  of  the 
most  expressive  words  in  the  New  Testament ;  the  love 
of  Christ  has  hold  of  the  Apostle  on  both  sides,  as  it 
were,  and  urges  him  on  in  a  course  which  he  cannot 
avoid.  It  has  him  in  its  grasp,  and  he  has  no  choice, 
under  its  irresistible  constraint,  but  to  be  what  he  is, 
and  to  do  what  he  does,  whether  men  think  him  in  his 
mind  or  out  of  his  mind.  That  the  love  of  Christ  means 
Christ's  love  to  us,  and  not  our  love  to  Him,  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  Paul  goes  on  at  once  to  describe  in  what 
it  consists.  "  It  constrains  us,"  he  says,  "  because  we 
have  come  to  this  mind  about  it :  One  died  for  all ;  so  then 
all  died."     Here,  we  may  say,  is  the  content  of  Christ's 

13 


194    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

love,  the  essence  of  it,  that  which  gives  it  its  soul- 
subduing  and  constraining  pov^^er  :  He  loved  us,  and 
gave  Himself  for  us ;  He  died  for  all,  and  in  that  death 
of  His  all  died. 

It  may  seem  a  hazardous  thing  to  give  a  definition  of 
love,  and  especially  to  shut  up  within  the  boundaries  of 
a  human  conception  that  love  of  Christ  which  passes 
knowledge.  But  the  intelligence  must  get  hold  some- 
how even  of  things  inconceivably  great,  and  the  New 
Testament  writers,  with  all  their  diversity  of  spiritual 
I  gifts,  are  at  one  as  to  what  is  essential  here.  They  all 
find  Christ's  love  concentrated  and  focussed  in  His 
death.  They  all  find  it  there  inasmuch  as  that  death 
was  a  death  for  us.  Perhaps  St  Paul  and  St.  John 
penetrated  further,  intellectually,  than  any  of  the  others 
into  the  mystery  of  this  **  for"  ;  but  if  we  cannot  give 
it  a  natural  interpretation,  and  an  interpretation  in 
which  an  absolutely  irresistible  constraint  is  hidden  for 
heart  and  will,  we  do  not  know  what  the  Apostles  meant 
when  they  spoke  of  Christ's  love.  There  has  been 
much  discussion  about  the  "for"  in  this  place.  It  is 
virep,  not  avri,  and  many  render  it  simply  "  on  our 
behalf,"  or  "  for  our  advantage."  That  Christ  did  die 
for  our  advantage  is  not  to  be  questioned.  Neither  is 
it  to  be  questioned  that  this  is  a  fair  rendering  of  virep. 
But  what  does  raise  question  is  whether  this  interpreta- 
tion of  the  "for"  supplies  sufficient  ground  for  the 
immediate  inference  of  the  Apostle  :  "  so  then  all  died." 
Is  it  logical  to  say,  •'*  One  died  for  the  benefit  of  all  : 
hence  all  died  "  ?  From  that  premiss  is  not  the  only 
legitimate  conclusion  "  hence  all  remained  alive "  ? 
Plainly,  if  Paul's  conclusion  is  to  be  drawn,  the  "  for  " 
must  reach  deeper  than  this  mere  suggestion  of  our 
advantage :  if  we  all  died,  in  that  Christ  died  for  us, 


V.  11-I5.J     THE  MEASURE   OF  CIIRISTS  LOVE  195 

there  must  be  a  sense  in  which  that  death  of  I  lis  is 
ours ;  He  must  be  identified  with  us  in  it  :  there,  on 
the  cross,  while  we  stand  and  gaze  at  Ilim,  He  is  not 
simply  a  person  doing  us  a  service  ;  He  is  a  person 
doing  us  a  service  by  filling  our  place  and  dying  our 
death.  It  is  out  of  this  deeper  relation  that  all  services, 
benefits,  and  advantages  flow ;  and  that  deeper  sense 
of  "for,"  to  which  Christ  in  His  death  is  at  once  the 
representative  and  the  substitute  of  man,  is  essential 
to  do  justice  to  the  Apostle's  thought.  Without  the 
ideas  involved  in  these  words  we  cannot  conceive,  as 
he  conceived  it,  the  love  of  Christ.  We  cannot  under- 
stand how  that  force,  which  exercised  such  absolute 
authority  over  his  whole  life,  appealed  to  his  intelligence. 
We  do  not  mean  what  he  meant  even  when  we  use 
his  words  ;  we  gain  currency,  under  cover  of  them,  for 
ideas  utterly  inadequate  to  the  spiritual  depth  of  his. 

If  this  were  an  exposition  of  St.  Paul's  theology,  and 
not  of  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  I  should 
be  bound  to  consider  the  connexion  between  that 
outward  death  of  Christ  in  which  the  death  of  all  is 
involved,  and  the  appropriation  of  that  death  to  them- 
selves by  individual  men.  But  the  Apostle  does  not 
directly  raise  this  question  here ;  he  only  adds  in  the 
fifteenth  verse  a  statement  of  the  purpose  for  which 
Christ  died,  and  in  doing  so  suggests  that  the  connect- 
ing link  is  to  be  sought,  in  part  at  least,  in  the  feeling 
of  gratitude.  ''  He  died  for  all,  that  they  which  live 
should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  Him 
who  died  for  them  and  rose  again."  In  dying  our 
death  Christ  has  done  something  for  us  so  immense 
in  love  that  we  ought  to  be  His,  and  only  His,  for 
ever.  To  make  us  His  is  the  very  object  of  His  death. 
Before  we  know  Him  we  are  naturally  selfish  ;  we  are 


196     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

an  end  to  ourselves,  in  the  bad  sense ;  we  are  our 
own.  Even  the  sacrifices  which  men  make  for  their 
famihes,  their  country,  or  their  order,  are  but  quah- 
fications  of  selfishness ;  it  is  not  eradicated  and 
exterminated  till  we  see  and  feel  what  is  meant  by 
this — that  Christ  died  our  death.  The  life  we  have 
after  we  have  apprehended  this  can  never  be  our  own ; 
nay,  we  ourselves  are  not  our  own  ;  we  are  bought 
with  a  price  ;  life  has  been  given  a  ransom  for  us, 
and  our  life  is  due  to  Him  "  who  died  for  us  and  rose 
again."  I  believe  the  Authorised  Version  is  right  in 
this  rendering,  and  that  it  is  a  mistake  to  say,  ''who 
for  our  sakes  died  and  rose  again."  The  Resurrection 
has  certainly  significance  in  the  work  of  Christ,  but 
not  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  His  death ;  and  Paul 
mentions  it  here,  not  to  define  its  significance,  but 
simply  because  he  could  not  think  of  living  except  for 
One  who  was  Himself  alive. 

One  point  deserves  especial  emphasis  here — the 
universality  of  the  expressions.  Paul  has  been  speak- 
ing of  himself,  and  of  the  constraint  which  the  love  of 
Christ,  as  he  apprehends  it,  exercises  upon  him.  But 
he  no  sooner  begins  to  define  his  thought  of  Christ's 
love  than  he  passes  over  from  the  first  person  to  the 
third.  The  love  of  Christ  was  not  to  be  limited ;  what  it 
is  to  the  Apostle  it  is  to  the  world  :  He  died  for  all,  and 
so  all  died.  Whatever  blessing  Christ's  death  contained, 
it  contains  for  all.  Whatever  doom  it  exhausts  and 
removes,  it  exhausts  and  removes  for  all.  Whatever 
power  it  breaks,  it  breaks  for  all.  Whatever  ideal  it 
creates,  whatever  obligation  it  imposes,  it  creates  and 
imposes  for  all.  There  is  not  a  soul  in  the  world 
which  is  excluded  from  an  interest  in  that  knowledge- 
surpassing  love  which  made  our  death  its  own.     There 


V.  11-15.]     THE  MEASURE  OF  CIIRISTS  LOVE  197 

is  not  one   which   ought  not  to  feel   that  omnipotent  I 
constraint   which    enchained    and   swayed    the   strong, 
proud  spirit  of  Paul.     There  is  not  one  which  ought 
not  to  be  pouring  out  its  life  for  Him  who  died  in  its 
place,  and  rose  to  receive  its  service. 


XV 

THE  NEW  WORLD 

"  Wherefore  we  henceforth  know  no  man  after  the  flesh  :  even 
though  we  have  known  Christ  after  the  flesh,  yet  now  we  know  Htm 
so  no  more.  Wherefore  if  any  man  ts  in  Christ,  he  ts  a  new  creature 
[or,  there  ts  a  new  creation]  :  the  old  things  are  passed  away ;  behold, 
they  are  become  new." — 2  Cor.  v.  i6,  17  (R.V.). 

THE  inferences  which  are  here  drawn  depend  upon 
what  has  just  been  said  of  Christ's  death  for  all, 
and  the  death  of  all  in  that  death  of  His.  In  that 
death,  as  inclusive  of  ours,  the  old  life  died,  and  with 
it  died  all  its  distinctions.  All  that  men  were,  apart 
from  Christ,  all  that  constituted  the  ''  appearance " 
(TTpoo-wTTov,  ver.  12)  of  their  Hfe,  all  that  marked  them 
off  from  each  other  as  such  and  such  outwardly,  ceased 
to  have  significance  the  moment  Christ's  death  was 
understood  as  Paul  here  understands  it.  He  dates  his 
inference  with  airb  rov  vvv  ("henceforth").  This  does  not 
mean  from  the  time  at  which  he  writes,  but  from  the 
time  at  which  he  saw  that  One  had  died  for  all,  and  so 
all  died.  Here,  as  in  other  places,  he  divides  his  Hfe 
into  "now"  and  "then,"  the  Christian  and  the  pre- 
Christian  stage  (Rom.  v.  9;  Eph.  ii.  11- 13).  The 
transition  from  one  to  the  other  was  revolutionary,  and 
one  of  its  most  startling  results  is  that  which  he  here 
describes.  "Then,"  the  distinctions  between  men,  the 
"  appearances  "  in  which  they  boasted,  had  been  im- 
portant in  his  eyes ;  "  now,"  they  have  ceased  to  be. 

198 


1 6,  17.]  THE  NEW   IVORLD  199 


He^  never  asks  whether  a  man  is  Jew  or  Greek,  richl 
or  poor,  bond  or  free,  learned  or  unlearned ;  these 
are  classifications  "after  the  flesh,"  and  have  died  in| 
Christ's  death  for  all.  To  recognise  them  any  longer, 
to  admit  the  legitimacy  of  claims  based  upon  them — 
such  claims  as  his  opponents  in  Corinth  seem  to  have 
been  putting  forth — would  be  to  make  Christ's  death, 
in  a  sense,  of  no  effect.  It  would  be  to  deny  that  when 
He  died  for  all,  all  died  in  Him  ;  it  would  be  to  re- 
animate distinctions  that  should  have  been  annihilated 
in  His  death. 

To  this  rule  of  knowing  no  one  after  the  flesh  Paul 
can  admit  no  exception.  Not  even  Christ  is  excepted. 
"  Even  though  we  have  known  Christ  after  the  flesh, 
yet  now  we  know  Him  so  no  more."  This  is  a  difficult 
saying,  and  has  been  very  variously  interpreted.  The 
English  reader  inevitably  supposes  that  Paul  had  known 
Christ  "after  the  flesh,"  but  had  outgrown  that  kind  of 
knowledge ;  and  that  he  is  intimating  these  two  facts. 
But  it  is  quite  possible  to  take  the  words'^  as  purely 
hypothetical :  "Supposing  us  to  have  known  even  Christ 
after  the  flesh — a  case  which  in  point  of  fact  was  never 
ours — yet  now  we  know  Him  so  no  more."  Grammar 
does  not  favour  this  last  rendering,  though  it  does  not 
preclude  it;  and  however  the  matter  may  be  settled, 
the  bare  supposition,  as  much  as  the  fact,  requires  us 
to  give  a  definite  meaning  to  the  words  about  knowing 
Christ  after  the  flesh,  and  ceasing  so  to  know  Him. 

Some  have  inferred  from  them  that  when  Paul 
became  a  Christian,  and  for  some  time  after,  his  con- 
ception of  Christ  had  resembled  that  of  the  persons 
whom  he  is  here  controverting:  his  Christ  had  been 


'  The  "we     in  the  first  clause  of  ver.  16  is  emphatic. 
^  As  Heinrici  does. 


200     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 


to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  Jewish  Messiah,  and  he 
had  only  been  able  by  degrees  to  overcome,  though  he 
had  at  last  overcome,  the  narrowness  and  nationalism 
of  his  early  years  as  a  disciple.  To  know  Christ  after 
the  flesh  would  be  to  know  Him  in  the  character  of 
a  deliverer  of  the  Jews  :  His  Jewish  descent,  His  cir- 
cumcision, His  observance  of  the  Temple  worship,  His 
hmitation  of  His  ministry  to  the  Holy  Land,  would  be 
matters  of  great  significance ;  and  Jewish  descent  might 
naturally  be  supposed  to  establish  a  prerogative  in 
relation  to  the  Messiah  for  Jews  as  opposed  to  Gentiles. 
Probably  there  were  Christians  whose  original  concep- 
tion of  the  Saviour  was  of  this  kind,  and  it  is  a  fair 
enough  description  to  say  that  this  amounts  only  to  a 
knowing  of  Christ  after  the  flesh  ;  but  Paul  can  hardly 
have  been  one  of  them.  His  Christian  knowledge  of 
Christ  dates  from  his  vision  of  the  Risen  Lord  on  the 
way  to  Damascus,  and  in  that  appearance  there  was 
no  room  for  anything  that  could  be  called  *'  flesh."  It 
was  an  appearance  of  the  Lord  of  Glory.  It  determined 
all  Paul's  thoughts  thenceforth.  Nothing  is  more 
remarkable  in  his  Epistles  than  the  strong  sense  that 
what  he  calls  his  Gospel  is  one,  unchanged,  and  un- 
changeable. It  is  not  Yes  and  No.  Neither  man  nor 
angel  may  modify  it  by  preaching  another  Jesus  than 
he  preaches.  He  is  quite  unconscious  of  any  such 
transformation  of  his  Christology  as  is  indicated  above ; 
and  in  the  absence  of  any  trace  elsewhere  of  a  change 
so  important,  it  is  impossible  to  read  it  into  the  verse 
before  us. 

Another  interpretation  of  the  words  would  make 
"  knowing  Christ  after  the  flesh  "  refer  to  a  knowledge 
at  first  hand  of  the  facts  and  outward  conditions  of 
Christ's  life  in  this  world  :    a  knowledge  which  Paul 


V.  i6, 17.]  THE  NEW  WORLD  2oi 

had  in  his  early  Christian  days  valued  highly,  but 
for  which  he  no  longer  cared.  There  were  numbers  of 
men  alive  then  who  had  known  Christ  in  this  sense. 
They  had  seen  and  heard  Him  in  Galilee  and  Jerusalem  ; 
they  had  much  to  tell  about  Him  which  would  no 
doubt  be  very  interesting  to  believers  ;  and  more  than 
hkely  some  of  them  emphasised  this  distinction  of 
theirs,  and  were  disposed  to  be  pretentious  on  the 
strength  of  it.  Whether  Paul  had  ever  known  Christ 
in  this  sense,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  But  it  is  certain 
that  to  such  knowledge  he  would  have  assigned  no 
Christian  importance  whatever.  And  in  doing  so,  he 
would  have  been  following  the  example  of  Christ 
Himself.  **  Then  shall  ye  begin  to  say.  We  have 
eaten  and  drunk  in  Thy  presence,  and  Thou  hast 
taught  in  our  streets.  And  He  shall  say,  I  tell  you, 
I  know  you  not  whence  ye  are."  But  it  is  impossible 
to  suppose  that  this  is  a  matter  on  which  Paul  as  a 
Christian  had  ever  needed  to  change  his  mind. 

It  is  an  interpretation  in  part  akin  to  this  which 
makes  St.  Paul  here  decry  all  knowledge  of  the  his- 
torical Christ  in  comparison  with  the  understanding 
of  His  death  and  resurrection.  To  know  Christ  after 
the  flesh  is  in  this  case  to  know  Him  as  He  is  repre- 
sented in  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke ;  and  Paul  is 
supposed  to  say  that,  though  narratives  like  these  once 
had  an  interest  and  value  for  him,  they  really  have 
it  no  longer:  they  are  not  essential  to  his  Gospel, 
which  is  constituted  by  the  death  and  resurrection 
alone.  These  great  events  and  their  consequences  are 
all  he  is  concerned  with ;  to  know  Christ  after  the 
Evangelists  is  merely  to  know  Him  after  the  flesh ; 
and  flesh,  even  His  flesh,  ought  to  have  no  significance 
since  His  death. 


202     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

It  is  a  little  difficult  to  take  this  quite  seriously, 
,  though  it  has  a  serious  side.  St.  Paul,  no  doubt,  makes 
'very  few  references  to  incidents  in  the  life  of  our 
Lord,  or  even  to  words  which  He  spoke.-^  But  he 
is  not  singular  in  this.  The  Epistles  of  Peter  and 
John  are  historically  as  barren  as  his.  They  do  not 
add  a  word  to  the  Gospel  story ;  there  is  no  new 
incident,  no  new  trait  in  the  picture  of  Jesus,  no  new 
oracle.  Indeed,  the  only  genuine  addition  to  the 
record  is  that  one  made  by  Paul  himself — *'  the  word 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how  He  said.  It  is  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive."  The  truth  seems  to  be  that 
it  is  not  natural  for  an  apostle,  nor  for  any  inspired 
man,  to  fall  back  on  quotations,  like  a  preacher  gravelled 
for  lack  of  matter,  or  conscious  of  wanting  authority. 
Paul  and  his  colleagues  in  apostleship  had  Christ 
living  in  them,  and  recognised  the  spirit  by  which 
they  spoke  as  the  spirit  of  their  Master.  So  far  as 
this  was  the  case,  it  was  certainly  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence to  them  whether  they  were  acquainted  with  this 
or  that  incident  in  His  life,  with  this  or  that  syllable 
that  He  spoke  on  such  and  such  an  occasion.  One 
casual  occurrence,  one  scene  in  Christ's  sufferings, 
one  discourse  which  He  delivered,  would  inevitably 
be  known  with  more  exact  and  literal  precision  to 
one  person  than  to  another ;  and  there  is  no  difficulty 
in  believing  that  the  casual  advantage  which  any 
individual  might  thus  possess  was  regarded  by  St. 
Paul  as  a  thing  of  no  Christian  consequence.  Similar 
differences  exist  still,  and  in  principle  are  to  be  dis- 
regarded. But  it  is  another  thing  to  say  that  oil 
knowledge    of  the    historical    Christ    is    irrelevant    to 

'  See  the  excellent  section  on  Paul  and  the   Historical  Christ  in 
Sabatier's  The  Apostle  Paul  (English  Translation,  pp.  76-85), 


V.  1 6,  17.]  THE  NEW  WORLD  203 

Christianity,  and  yet  another  to  father  such  an  opinion 
on  St.  Paul.  The  attempt  to  do  so  is  due  in  part, 
I  believe,  to  a  misinterpretation  of  Kara  adpKa.  Paul 
has  been  read  as  if  what  he  disclaimed  and  decried 
were  knowledge  of  Christ  eV  aapKi.  But  the  two 
things  are  quite  distinct.  Christ  lived  in  the  flesh  ;  but 
the  life  that  He  lived  in  the  flesh  He  lived  after  the 
spirit^  and  when  its  spiritual  import  is  regarded,  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  no  one  ever  knew  Christ  as  He 
was  in  the  flesh — the  Christ  of  Matthew,  Mark,  and 
Luke — better  than  Paul.  No  one  had  been  initiated 
into  Christ's  character,  as  that  character  is  revealed 
in  the  story  of  the  Evangelists,  more  fully  than  he. 
No  one  ever  knew  the  mind,  the  temper,  the  new 
moral  ideal  of  Christianity,  better  than  Paul,  and  there 
is  no  ultimate  source  for  this  knowledge  but  the  his- 
torical Christ.  Paul  could  not  in  his  work  as  an 
evangelist  preach  salvation  through  the  death  and 
resurrection  of  an  unknown  person ;  the  story  which 
was  the  common  property  of  the  Church,  and  with 
which  her  catechists  everywhere  indoctrinated  the 
new  disciples,  must  have  been  as  familiar  to  him,  in 
substance,  as  it  is  to  us ;  and  his  evident  knowledge 
and  appreciation  of  the  character  embodied  in  it  forbids 
us  to  think  of  this  acquaintance  with  Christ  as  what 
he  means  by  knowing  Him  after  the  flesh.  He  might 
have  had  the  Gospel  narratives  by  heart,  and  counted 
them  inestimably  precious,  and  yet  have  spoken  exactly 
as  he  speaks  here. 

Nevertheless,  this  interpretation,  though  mistaken, 
has  a  certain  truth  in  it.  There  is  a  historical  know- 
ledge of  Christ  which  is  a  mere  irrelevance  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  it  has  sometimes  a  stress  laid  upon  it  by 
its    possessors    which    tempts    one    to    speak    of  it  in 


204     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

St.  Paul's  scornful  tone.  Many  so-called  "  Lives  "  of 
Christ  abound  in  it.  They  aim  at  a  historical  realism 
which,  to  speak  the  plain  truth,  has  simply  no  religious 
value.  Knowledge  of  localities,  customs,  costumes, 
and  so  forth,  is  interesting  enough ;  but  if  it  should  be 
ever  so  full  and  ever  so  exact,  it  is  not  the  knowledge 
of  Jesus  Christ  in  any  sense  which  makes  a  Gospel. 

lit  is  quite  possible,  nay  it  is  more  than  possible,  that 
such  knowledge  may  come  between  the  soul  and  the 

:  Lord.  It  was  so  when  Jesus  lived.  There  were 
people  who  knew  so  well  what  He  was  like  that  they 
were  blind  to  what  He  was.  In  St.  Paul's  phrase  we 
may  say  that  they  knew  Him  ^'  after  the  flesh,"  and  it 
kept  them  from  knowing  Him  truly.     They  asked,   "  Is 

J  not  this  the  carpenter  ?  "  as  if  that  were  a  piece  of 
f  undeniable  insight ;  and  they  were  not  conscious  that 
only  men  blind  to  what  He  really  was  could  ever  have 
asked  a  question  so  absurd.  It  was  not  the  carpenter 
who  spoke  with  authority  in  the  synagogues,  and  cast 
out  devils,  and  brought  in  the  kingdom;  it  was  the 
Son  of  Man,  the  Son  of  God ;  and  whether  Paul  meant 
it  so  or  not,  we  may  use  his  language  in  this  passage 
to  express  the  conviction,  that  one  may  really  know 
Christ,  to  whom  the  whole  outward  aspect  of  His  life, 
represented  by  "the  carpenter  of  Nazareth,"  is  indif- 

■  ferent ;  nay,  that  one  cannot  know  Him  in  any  real 
sense  until  these  external  things  are  indifferent.     Or 

'  to  put  the  same  thing  in  other  words,  we  may  say  that 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  which  constitutes  the  Christian 
is  not  the  knowledge  of  what  He  was,  but  of  what  He 
is ;  and  if  we  know  what  He  is,  then  all  that  is  merely 
outward  in  the  history  may  pass  away. 

But  if  none  of  these  interpretations  answers  exactly 
to   the  Apostle's  thought,   where   are  we   to  seek   the 


V.  i6,  17-]  THE  NEW  WORLD  205 

meaning  of  his  words  ?  All  these,  it  will  be  observed, 
assume  that  Paul  knew  Christ  ''  after  the  flesh,"  subse- 
quent to  his  conversion  ;  that  he  shared,  as  a  Christian, 
views  about  Christ  which  he  is  now  combating.  As 
these  interpretations,  however,  are  untenable,  we  must 
assume  that  the  time  when  he  thus  knew  Christ  was 
before  his  conversion.  He  could  look  back  to  days 
when  his  Messianic  conceptions  were  "carnal";  when 
the  Christ  was  to  be  identified,  for  him,  by  tokens  in 
the  domain  of  "  appearance,"  or  "  flesh "  ;  when  He 
w^as  to  be  a  national,  perhaps  merely  a  political  deliverer, 
and  the  Saviour  of  the  Jews  in  a  sense  which  gave 
them  an  advantage  over  the  Gentiles.  But  these  days 
were  gone  for  ever.  '*  Henceforth  " — from  the  very 
instant  that  the  truth  flashed  on  him,  One  died  for  all, 
and  so  al/  died — they  belonged  to  a  past  which  could 
never  be  revived  or  recalled.  One  died  for  all :  that 
means  that  Christ  is  Universal  Redeemer.  That  same 
One  rose  again  :  that  means  He  is  Universal  Lord. 
He  has  done  the  same  infinite  service  for  all.  He  makes 
the  same  infinite  claim  upon  all ;  there  are  no  prero- 
gatives for  any  race,  for  any  caste,  for  any  individual 
men,  in  relation  to  Him.  In  presence  of  His  cross, 
there  is  no  difference  :  in  His  death,  and  in  our  death 
in  Him,  all  carnal  distinctions  die  ;  "  henceforth  we 
know  no  man  after  the  flesh."  Even  kinship  to  Jesus 
"after  the  flesh  "  does  not  base  any  prerogative  in  the 
kingdom  of  God ;  even  to  have  eaten  and  drunk  in 
His  presence,  and  listened  to  His  living  voice,  confers 
no  distinction  there ;  He  has  not  done  more  for  His 
brethren  and  His  companions  than  He  has  done  for  us 
all.  And  not  only  the  carnal  distinctions  of  men  have 
vanished  away  ;  the  carnal  Jewish  conception  of  Christ 
has  vanished  with  them. 


2o6     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

The  seventeenth  verse  seems  a  new  inference  from 
the  same  ground  as  the  fifteenth.  Indeed,  it  connects 
so  naturally  with  ver.  1 5  that  one  critic  has  suggested 
that  ver.  16  is  spurious,  and  another  that  it  was  a  later 
insertion  by  the  Apostle.  Perhaps  we  may  assume 
that  St.  Paul,  who  had  no  fear  of  such  critics  before 
his  eyes,  was  capable  of  setting  his  sentences  down 
just  as  they  occurred  to  him,  and  did  not  mind  an 
occasional  awkwardness.  When  he  writes  *'  Where- 
fore if  any  man  is  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature," 
he  is  indeed  drawing  an  inference  from  ver.  15,  but  he 
is  at  the  same  time  generalising  and  carrying  on  the 
thought  of  ver.  16.  The  idea  of  the  new  creature 
occurs  in  other  places  in  his  writings  {e.g.^  Eph,  ii.  lO; 
Gal.  vi.  15),  but  both  here  and  in  Gal.  vi.  15  I  prefer 
the  rendering  in  the  margin  of  the  Revised  Version — 
''  If  any  man  is  in  Christ,  there  is  a  new  creation  :  the 
old  things  passed  away  (when  he  died  in  Christ) ;  ^ 
behold,  they  have  become  new."  We  may  say,  if  we 
please,  that  it  is  the  new  creature  which  makes  the  new 
creation ;  the  change  in  the  soul  which  revolutionises 
the  world.  Still,  it  is  this  universal  change  which  the 
Apostle,  apparently,  wishes  to  describe  ;  and  in  the 
sudden  note  of  triumph  with  which  he  concludes — 
<*  Behold !  all  is  become  new " — we  feel,  as  it  were, 
one  throb  of  that  glad  surprise  with  which  he  had 
looked  out  on  the  world  after  God  had  reconciled  him 
to  Himself  by  His  Son.  The  past  was  dead  to  him, 
as  dead  as  Christ  on  His  cross ;  all  its  ideas,  all  its 
hopes,  all  its  ambitions,  were  dead ;  in  Christy  he  was 
another  man  in  another  universe. 

This  is  the  first  passage  in  2  Corinthians  in  which  this 

*  Observe  the  aorist  iraprjXdev. 


V.  i6,  17.]  THE  NEIV   WORLD  207 


Pauline  formula  for  a  Christian — a  man  in  Christ — is 
used.^  It  denotes  the  most  intimate  possible  union,  a 
union  in  which  the  believer's  faith  identifies  him  with 
Jesus  in  His  death  and  resurrection,  so  that  he  can  say, 
"  I  live  no  longer,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  It  is  the 
Apostle's  profoundest  word,  not  on  the  Gospel,  but  on 
the  appropriation  of  the  Gospel ;  not  on  Christ,  but  on 
the  Christian  religion.^  It  is  mystical,  as  every  true  word 
must  be  which  speaks  of  the  relation  of  the  soul  to  the 
Saviour ;  but  it  is  intelligible  to  every  one  who  knows 
what  it  is  to  trust  and  to  love,  and  through  trust  and 
love  to  lose  self  in  another  whose  life  is  greater  and 
better  than  his  own.  And  when  we  have  seen,  even  for 
a  moment,  what  it  is  to  live  in  self  or  in  the  world,  and 
what  to  live  in  Christ,  we  can  easily  believe  that  this 
union  is  equivalent  to  a  re-creating  and  transfiguring  of 
all  things. 

It  is  impossible  to  point  to  all  the  applications  of  this 
truth  :  "  all  things  "  is  too  wide  a  text.  Every  reader 
knows  the  things  which  bulked  most  largely  in  his  life 
before  he  knew  Christ,  and  it  is  easy  for  him  to  tell 
the  difference  due  to  being  in  the  Lord.  In  a  sense 
the  new  creation  is  in  process  as  long  as  we  live  ;  it  is 
ideally  that  faith  in  Christ  means  death  in  His  death  ; 
ideally  that  with  faith  the  old  passes  and  the  new  is 
there  ;  the  actual  putting  away  of  the  old,  the  actual 
production  of  the  new,  are  the  daily  task  of  faith  as  it 
unites  the  soul  to  Christ.  We  are  in  Him  the  moment 
faith  touches  Him,  but  we  have  to  grow  up  into  Him 


'  Chap.  ii.  14,  17,  and  chap.  iii.  14,  are  more  limited. 

'^  Perhaps  the  use  of  iv  Xptarc^  here  may  be  determined  by  the  wish 
to  express  tacitly  his  opposition  to  those  who  claimed  to  be  in  a 
special  sense  toO  XpicTToD.  Paul's  formula  really  asserts  a  much 
more  intimate  relation  to  Christ  than  theirs. 


2o8     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

in  all  things.  Only  as  we  do  so  does  the  world  change 
all  around  us,  till  the  promise  is  fulfilled  of  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth. 

But  there  is  one  application  of  these  words,  directly 
suggested  by  the  context,  which  we  ought  not  to  over- 
look :  I  mean  their  application  to  men,  and  the  old 
ways  of  estimating  men.  Those  who  are  in  Christ 
have  died  to  the  whole  order  of  life  in  which  men  are 
judged  "  after  the  flesh."  Perhaps  the  Christian  Church 
has  almost  as  much  need  as  any  other  society  to  lay 
this  to  heart.  We  are  still  too  ready  to  put  stress  upon 
distinctions  which  are  quite  in  place  in  the  world,  but 
are  without  ground  in  Christ.  Even  in  a  Christian 
congregation  there  is  a  recognition  of  wealth,  of  learn- 
ing, of  social  position,  in  some  countries  of  race,  which 
is  not  Christian.  I  do  not  say  these  distinctions  are 
not  real,  but  they  are  meaningless  in  relation  to  Christ, 
and  ought  not  to  be  made.  To  make  them  narrows 
and  impoverishes  the  soul.  If  we  associate  only  with 
people  of  a  certain  station,  and  because  of  their  station, 
all  our  thoughts  and  feelings  are  limited  to  a  very  small 
area  of  human  life  ;  but  if  distinctions  of  station,  of 
intelligence,  of  manners,  are  lost  in  the  common  relation 
to  Christ,  then  life  is  open  to  us  in  all  its  length  and 
breadth ;  all  things  are  ours,  because  we  are  His.  To 
be  guided  by  worldly  distinctions  is  to  know  only  a  few 
people,  and  to  know  them  by  what  is  superficial  in  their 
nature  ;  but  to  see  that  such  distinctions  died  in  Christ's 
death,  and  to  look  at  men  in  relation  to  Him  who  is 
Redeemer  and  Lord  of  all,  is  to  know  all  our  brethren, 
and  to  know  them  not  on  the  surface,  but  to  the  heart. 
People  lament  everywhere  the  want  of  a  truly  social 
and  brotherly  feeling  in  the  Church,  and  try  all  sorts 
of  well-meant  devices  to  stimulate  it,  but  nothing  short 


V.  i6,  17.]  THE  NEW  WORLD  209 

of  this  goes  to  the  root  of  the  matter.  The  social,  in  this 
universal  sense,  is  dependent  upon  the  religious.  Those 
who  have  died  in  Christ  to  the  world  in  which  these 
separative  distinctions  reign  will  have  no  difficulty  in 
recognising  each  other  as  one  in  Him.  Society  is  trans- 
figured for  each  of  us  when  this  union  is  accomplished  ; 
the  old  things  have  passed,  and  all  has  become  new. 


14 


XVI 

RECON  CILIA  TION 

"  But  all  things  are  of  God,  who  reconciled  us  to  Himself  through 
Christ,  and  gave  unto  us  the  ministry  of  reconciliation  ;  to  wit,  that 
God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself,  not  reckoning 
unto  them  their  trespasses,  and  having  committed  unto  us  the  word 
of  reconciliation.  We  are  ambassadors  therefore  on  behalf  of  Christ, 
as  though  God  were  intreating  by  us  :  we  beseech  you  on  behalf  of 
Christ,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God.  Him  who  knew  no  sin  He  made  to 
be  sin  on  our  behalf;  that  we  might  become  the  righteousness  of  God 
in  Him."— 2  Cor.  v.  18-21  (R.V.). 

"  Est  hie  insignis  locus,  si  quis  alius  est  in  toto  Paulo  :  proinde 
diligenter  excutere  singulas  particulas  convenit." — Calvin. 

^'  T  F  any  man  be  in  Christ,"  Paul  has  said,  "there  is 
i  a  new  creation  ;  he  is  another  man  and  Hves  in 
another  world.  But  the  new  creation  has  the  same 
Author  as  the  original  one  :  it  is  all  of  God,  who  recon- 
ciled us  to  Himself  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  gave  to  us  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation."  It  is  plain  from  these  last 
words  that  **  us  "  does  not  mean  Christians  in  general, 
but  in  the  first  instance  Paul  himself.  He  is  a  typical 
example  of  what  it  is  to  be  in  Christ ;  he  understands 
what  his  own  words  mean — '*  the  old  things  passed 
away ;  behold,  they  have  become  new " ;  he  under- 
stands also  how  this  stupendous  change  has  been 
brought  about.  ''It  is  due  to  God,"  he  says,  ''who 
reconciled  us  to  Himself  through  Christ." 

The  great  interest  of  this  passage  is  its  bearing  upon 
the  Christian  doctrine  of  reconciliation,  and  before  we 


V.  1 8-2 1 .]  RECON CILIA  TION  2 1 1 

go  further  it  is  necessary  to  explain  precisely  what  this 
word  means.  It  presupposes  a  state  of  estrangement. 
Now,  a  state  of  estrangement  may  be  of  two  kinds  :  the 
feeling  of  alienation  and  hostility  may  exist  upon  one 
side  only,  or  it  may  exist  upon  both.  What,  then,  is 
the  character  of  that  state  of  estrangement  which 
subsists  between  God  and  man  independently  of  the 
Gospel,  and  which  the  Gospel,  as  a  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation, is  designed  to  overcome  ?  Is  it  one-sided,  or 
two-sided  ?  Is  there  something  to  be  put  away  in  man 
only,  or  something  to  be  put  away  in  God  as  well, 
before  reconciliation  is  effected  ? 

These  questions  have  been  answered  very  confidently 
in  different  ways.  Many,  especially  in  modern  times, 
assert  with  passionate  eagerness  that  the  estrangement 
is  merely  one-sided.  Man  is  alienated  from  God  by 
sin,  fear,  and  unbelief,  and  God  reconciles  him  to 
Himself  when  He  prevails  with  him  to  lay  aside  these 
evil  dispositions,  and  trust  Him  as  his  Father  and  his 
Friend.  "  All  things  are  of  God,  who  reconciled  us  to 
Himself  through  Christ,"  would  mean  in  this  case,  ''All 
things  are  of  God,  who  has  won  our  friendship  through 
His  Son."  That  this  describes  in  part  the  effect  of 
the  Gospel,  no  one  will  deny.  It  is  one  of  its  blessed 
results  that  fear  and  distrust  of  God  are  taken  away, 
and  that  we  learn  to  trust  and  love  Him.  Nevertheless, 
this  is  not  what  the  New  Testament  means  by  recon- 
ciUation,  though  it  is  one  of  its  fruits. 

To  St.  Paul  the  estrangement  which  the  Christian 
reconciliation  has  to  overcome  is  indubitably  two-sided  ; 
there  is  something  in  God  as  well  as  something  in  man 
which  has  to  be  dealt  with  before  there  can  be  peace. 
Nay,  the  something  on  God's  side  is  so  incomparably 
more  serious  that  in  comparison  with  it  the  something 


212     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

on  man's  side  simply  passes  out  of  view.     It  is  God's 
earnest  dealing  with  the  obstacle  on  His  own  side  to 
peace  with  man  which  prevails  on  man  to  believe  in 
the  seriousness  of  His  love,  and  to  lay  aside  distrust. 
It  is  God's  earnest  dealing  with  the  obstacle  on  His 
own  side  which  constitutes  the  reconciliation ;  the  story 
of  it  is  "  the  word  of  reconciliation  "  ;  when  men  receive 
it,  ihey  receive  (Rom.  v.  lo)  the  reconciHation.     "Re- 
conciliation "  in  the  New  Testament  sense  is  not  some- 
thing  which  we    accomplish   when   we   lay  aside   our 
enmity  to  God  ;  it  is  something  which  God  accomplished 
when   in  the  death  of  Christ  He  put  away  everything 
that  on  His  side  meant  estrangement,  so  that  He  might 
come  and  preach  peace.      To  deny  this  is  to  take  St. 
Paul's  Gospel  away  root  and  branch.     He  always  con- 
ceives the  Gospel  as  the  revelation  of  God's  wisdom 
and  love  in  view  of  a  certain  state  of  affairs  as  sub- 
sisting between  God  and  man.     Now,  what  is  the  really 
serious  element  in  this   situation  ?      What   is   it  that 
makes  a  Gospel  necessary  ?    What  is  it  that  the  wisdom 
and  love  of  God  undertake  to  deal  with,  and  do  deal 
with,  in    that    marvellous  way  which    constitutes    the 
Gospel  ?      Is   it   man's  distrust  of  God  ?   is  it  man's 
disUke,  fear,  antipathy,  spiritual  alienation  ?     Not  if  we 
accept  the  Apostle's  teaching.    The  serious  thing  which 
makes  the  Gospel  necessary,  and  the  putting  away  of 
which  constitutes  the  Gospel,  is  God's  condemnation  of 
the  world  and  its  sin ;  it  is  God's  wrath,  "  revealed  from 
heaven  against  all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of 
men"  (Rom.  i.    16-18).     The  putting  away  of  this  is 
"  reconciliation  "  :  the  preaching  of  this  reconciHation  is 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 

Much  impatience  has  been  shown  in    the  criticism 
of  this  conception.     Clever  men   have  exhibited  their 


V.I  8-2 1.]  RECONCILIATION  213 

talent  and  courage  by  calling  it  "  heathenish "  ;  and 
others  have  undertaken  to  apologise  for  St.  Paul  by 
describing  this  objection  as  **  modern."  I  cannot 
understand  how  any  one  should  feel  entitled  either  to 
flout  the  Apostle  on  this  matter,  or  to  take  him  under 
his  patronage.  If  any  one  ever  had  the  sense  to  dis- 
tinguish between  what  is  real  and  unreal  in  regard  to 
God,  between  what  is  true  and  false  spiritually,  it  was 
he;  even  with  Ritschl  on  one  side  and  Schmiedel  on 
the  other  he  is  not  dwarfed,  and  may  be  permitted  to 
speak  for  himself.  The  wrath  of  God,  the  condem- 
nation of  God  resting  on  the  sinful  world,  are  not, 
whatever  speculative  theologians  may  think,  unreal 
things  :  neither  do  they  belong  only  to  ancient  times. 
They  are  the  most  real  things  of  which  human  nature 
has  any  knowledge  till  it  receives  the  reconciliation. 
They  are  as  real  as  a  bad  conscience  ;  as  real  as 
misery,  impotence,  and  despair.  And  it  is  the  glory 
of  the  Gospel,  as  St.  Paul  understood  it,  that  it  deals 
with  them  as  real.  It  does  not  tell  men  that  they  are 
illusions,  and  that  only  their  own  groundless  fear  and 
distrust  have  ever  stood  between  them  and  God.  It 
tells  them  that  God  has  dealt  seriously  with  these 
serious  things  for  their  removal,  that  awful  as  they  are 
He  has  put  them  away  by  an  awful  demonstration  of 
His  love  ;  it  tells  them  that  God  has  made  peace  at  an 
infinite  cost,  and  that  the  priceless  peace  is  now  freely 
offered  to  them. 

When  St  Paul  says  that  God  has  given  him  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation,  he  means  that  he  is  a 
preacher  of  this  peace.  He  ministers  reconciliation 
to  the  world.  His  work  has  no  doubt  a  hortatory 
side,  as  we  shall  see,  but  that  side  is  secondary.  It 
is    not  the    main  part  of  his  vocation  to  tell  men   to 


214     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

make  their  peace  with  God,  but  to  tell  them  that  God 
has  made  peace  with  the  world.  At  bottom,  the 
Gospel  is  not  good  advice,  but  good  news.  All  the  good 
advice  it  gives  is  summed  up  in  this — -Receive  the  good 
news.  But  if  the  good  news  be  taken  away  ;  if  we 
cannot  say,  God  has  made  peace,  God  has  dealt 
seriously  with  His  condemnation  of  sin,  so  that  it 
no  longer  stands  in  the  way  of  your  return  to  Him  ; 
if  we  cannot  say.  Here  is  the  reconciliation,  receive  it, — 
then  for  man's  actual  state  we  have  no  Gospel  at  all. 

In  the  nineteenth  verse  St.  Paul  explains  more  fully 
the  way  in  which  he  is  looking  at  the  subject:^  **  to 
wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world 
to  Himself,  not  reckoning  unto  them  their  trespasses, 
and  having  committed  unto  us  the  word  of  reconcilia- 
tion." The  English  Authorised  Version  puts  a  comma 
at  Christ :  *'  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  to 
Himself"  It  is  safe  to  say  that  *'  God  was  in  Christ " 
is  a  sentence  which  neither  St.  Paul  nor  any  other 
New  Testament  writer  could  have  conceived ;  the 
"was"  and  the  ''reconciling"  must  be  taken  together, 
and  "in  Christ"  is  practically  equivalent  to  "through 
Christ"  in  the  previous  verse — God  was  by  means  of 
Christ  reconciling  the  world  to  Himself  "  Recon- 
ciling," of  course,  must  be  taken  in  the  sense  already 
explained.  The  sentence  does  not  mean  that  God 
was  trying  to  convert  men,  or  to  prevail  with  them 
to  lay  aside  their  enmity,  but  that  He  was  disposing 
of  everything  that  on  His  part  made  peace  impossible. 
When  Christ's  work  was  done,  the  reconciliation  of  the 
world  was  accomplished.     When  men  were   called  to 

•  This  seems  to  be  the  force  of  ws  :  it  is  a  violent  supposition  that 
it  means  "since,"  or  "for,"  and  that  6ti,  is  a  marginal  interpretation 
of  it  which  has  crept  into  the  text. 


V.  1 8-2 1 .]  RECONCILIA  TION  2 1 5 


receive  it,  they  were  called  to  a  relation  to  God,  not  in 
which  they  would  no  more  be  against  Him — though 
that  is  included — but  in  which  they  would  no  more 
have  Him  against  them  (Hofmann).  There  would  be 
no  condemnation  thenceforth  to  those  who  were  in 
Christ  Jesus. 

The  connexion  of  the  words  "  not  reckoning  unto 
them  their  trespasses,  and  having  committed  unto  us 
the  word  of  reconciliation,"  is  rather  difficult.  The 
last  clause  certainly  refers  to  something  which  took 
place  after  the  work  of  reconciliation  had  been  wrought ; 
Paul  was  commissioned  to  tell  the  story  of  it.  It 
seems  most  probable  that  the  other  is  co-ordinate  with 
this,  so  that  both  are  in  a  sense  the  evidence  for 
the  main  proposition.  It  is  as  if  he  had  said  :  **  God 
was  by  means  of  Christ  establishing  friendly  relations 
between  the  world  and  Himself,  as  appears  from  this, 
that  He  does  not  reckon  their  trespasses  unto  them,^ 
and  has  made  us  preachers  of  His  grace."  The  very 
universality  of  the  expression — reconciling  a  world  to 
Himself — is  consistent  only  with  an  objective  recon- 
ciliation. It  cannot  mean  that  God  was  overcoming 
the  world's  enmity  (though  that  is  the  ulterior  object) 
it  means  that  God  was  putting  away  His  own  condem- 
nation and  wrath.  When  this  was  done,  He  could 
send,  and  did  send,  men  to  declare  that  it  was  done  ; 
and  among  these  men,  none  had  a  profounder  apprecia- 
tion of  what  God  had  wrought,  and  what  he  himself 
had  to  declare  as  God's  glad  tidings,  than  the  Apostle 
Paul. 

This   is  the  point  we  reach  in  ver.  20 :    "  We  are 

'  This  makes  Xoyi^S/xeuos  a  true  present,  not  an  imperfect  participle. 
It  quite  dislocates  the  sentence  if  it  is  co-ordinated  with  KaTaWdaauf, 
and  not  with  d^/xevos. 


2i6     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

ambassadors  therefore  on  behalf  of  Christ,  as  though 
God  were  intreating  you  by  us ;  we  beseech  you,  on 
behalf  of  Christ,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God."  The  Apostle 
has  just  told  us  that  all  is  of  God,  but  all  is  at  the  same 
time  ''  in  Christ,"  or  ''  through  Christ."  Hence  it  is 
on  Christ's  behalf  he  comes  forward ;  it  is  the  further- 
ance of  Christ's  interests  he  has  at  heart.  Nay,  it  is 
that  same  interest  which  is  at  the  heart  of  the  Father, 
who  desires  now  to  glorify  the  Son ;  so  that  when  Paul 
appeals  to  men  on  Christ's  behalf  it  is  as  though  God 
Himself  entreated  them.  Most  expositors  notice  the 
amazing  contrast  between  Trpea-^evofj^ev  (''  we  are  ambas- 
sadors ")  and  SeofieOa  ("  we  beseech  you  ").  The  ambas- 
sador, as  a  rule,  stands  upon  his  dignity ;  he  maintains 
the  greatness  of  the  person  whom  he  represents.  But 
Paul  in  this  lowly  passionate  entreaty  is  not  false  to 
his  Master;  he  is  preaching  the  Gospel  in  the  spirit 
of  the  Gospel ;  he  shows  that  he  has  really  learned  of 
Christ ;  the  very  conception  of  the  ambassador  descend- 
ing to  entreaty  is,  as  Calvin  says,  an  incomparable 
commendation  of  the  grace  of  Christ.  One  can  imagine 
how  Saul  the  Pharisee  would  have  spoken  on  God's 
behalf;  with  what  rigour,  what  austerity,  what  un- 
bending, uncompromising  assurance.  But  old  things 
have  passed  away ;  behold,  they  have  become  new. 
This  single  verse  illumines,  as  by  a  lightning  flash, 
the  new  world  into  which  the  Gospel  has  translated 
Paul,  the  new  man  it  has  made  of  him.  The  fire  that 
burned  in  Christ's  heart  has  caught  hold  in  his  ;  his 
soul  is  tremulous  with  passion ;  he  is  conscious  of  the 
grandeur  of  his  calling,  yet  there  is  nothing  that  he 
would  not  do  to  win  men  for  his  message.  It  would 
go  to  his  heart  like  a  sword  if  he  had  to  take  up  the 
old  lament,  ''  Who  hath  believed  our  report  ?  "     In  his 


V.  1 8-2 1 .]  R  ECO  NCI  LI  A  TION  217 

dignity  as  Christ's  ambassador  and  as  the  mouthpiece 
of  God,  in  his  humiUty,  in  his  passionate  earnestness, 
in  the  urgency  and  directness  of  his  appeal,  St.  Paul 
is  the  supreme  type  and  example  of  the  Christian 
minister.  In  the  passage  before  us  he  presents  the 
appeal  of  the  Gospel  in  its  simplest  form  :  wherever 
he  stands  before  men  on  Christ's  behalf  his  prayer  is, 
"  Be  ye  reconciled  unto  God."  And  once  more  we 
must  insist  on  the  apostolic  import  of  these  words. 
It  is  the  misleading  nuance  of  ** reconcile"  in  English 
that  makes  so  many  take  them  as  if  they  meant,  ''  Lay 
aside  your  enmity  to  God ;  cease  to  regard  Him  with 
distrust,  hatred,  and  fear "  ;  in  other  words,  **  Show 
yourselves  His  friends."  In  St.  Paul's  lips  they  cannot 
possibly  mean  anything  but,  '*  Accept  His  offered  friend- 
ship ;  enter  into  that  peace  which  He  has  made  for  the 
world  through  the  death  of  His  Son ;  believe  that  He 
has  at  infinite  cost  put  away  all  that  on  His  part  stood 
between  you  and  peace  ;  receive  the  reconciliation."         / 

The  Received  Text  and  the  Authorised  Version  attach 
the  twenty-first  verse  to  this  exhortation  by  ^^ap  ("  for  ")  : 
"  For  Him  who  knew  no  sin  He  made  to  be  sin  on  our 
behalf."  The  **  for  "  is  spurious,  and  though  it  is  not 
inept  the  sentence  gains  greatly  in  impressiveness  by 
its  omission.  The  Apostle  does  not  point  out  the 
connexion  for  us  :  in  simply  declaring  the  manner  in 
which  God  reconciled  the  world  to  Himself — the  process 
by  which,  the  cost  at  which.  He  made  peace — he  leaves 
us  to  feel  how  vast  is  the  boon  which  is  offered  to 
us  in  the  Gospel,  how  tremendous  the  responsibility 
of  rejecting  it.  To  refuse  '*  the  reconciliation  "  is  to 
contemn  the  death  in  which  the  Sinless  One  was  made 
sin  on  our  behalf. 

This  wonderful  sentence  is  the  inspired  commentary 


2i8     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

on  the  statement  of  ver.  15 — "One  died  for  all.  It 
takes  us  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Apostolic  Gospel. 
Just  because  it  does  so,  it  has  always  been  felt  to  be 
of  critical  importance,  alike  by  those  who  welcome  and 
by  those  who  reject  it ;  it  condenses  and  concentrates 
in  itself  the  attraction  of  Christ  and  the  offence  of 
Christ.  It  is  a  counsel  of  despair  to  evade  it.  It  is  not 
the  puzzle  of  the  New  Testament,  but  the  ultimate 
solution  of  all  puzzles  ;  it  is  not  an  irrational  quantity 
that  has  to  be  eliminated  or  explained  away,  but  the 
key-stone  of  the  whole  system  of  apostolic  thought. 
It  is  not  a  blank  obscurity  in  revelation,  a  spot  of 
impenetrable  blackness ;  it  is  the  focus  in  which  the 
reconciling  love  of  God  burns  with  the  purest  and  in- 
tensest  flame  ;  it  is  the  fountain  light  of  all  day,  the 
master  light  of  all  seeing,  in  the  Christian  revelation. 
Let  us  look  at  it  more  closely. 

God,  we  must  observe  in  the  first  place,  is  the  subject. 
"  All  "  is  of  Him  in  the  work  of  reconciliation,  and  this 
above  all,  that  He  made  the  Sinless  One  to  be  sin.  I 
have  read  a  book  on  the  Atonement  which  quoted  this 
sentence  three  times,  or  rather  misquoted  it,  never  once 
recognising  that  an  action  of  God  is  involved.  But 
without  this,  there  is  no  coherence  in  the  Apostle's 
thoughts  at  all.  Without  this,  there  would  be  no  ex- 
planation of  reconciliation  as  God's  work.  God  reconciled 
the  world  to  Himself — made  peace  into  which  the  world 
might  enter — in  making  Christ  sin  on  its  behalf  What 
precisely  this  means  we  shall  inquire  further  on  ;  but 
it  is  essential  to  remember,  whatever  it  mean,  that  God 
is  the  doer  of  it. 

Observe  next  the  description  of  Christ — ''  Him  that 
knew  no  sin."  The  Greek  negative  (/a?)),  as  Schmiedel 
remarks,  implies  that  this  is  regarded  as  the  verdict  of 


V.  1 8-2 1 .]  RECON CILIA  TION  2 1 9 

some  one  else  than  the  writer.  It  was  Christ's  own 
verdict  upon  Himself.  He  whose  words  search  our 
very  hearts,  and  bring  to  light  unsuspected  seeds  of 
badness,  never  Himself  betrays  the  faintest  conscious- 
ness of  guilt.  He  challenges  His  enemies  directly  : 
"  Which  of  you  convinceth  Me  of  sin  ?  "  It  is  the  verdict 
of  all  sincere  human  souls,  as  uttered  by  the  soldier 
who  watched  His  cross — ''Truly  this  was  a  righteous 
man."  It  is  the  verdict  even  of  the  great  enemy  who 
assailed  Him  again  and  again,  and  found  nothing  in 
Him,  and  whose  agents  recognised  Him  as  the  Holy 
One  of  God.  Above  all,  it  is  the  verdict  of  God.  He 
was  the  beloved  Son,  in  whom  the  Father  was  well 
pleased.  For  three-and-thirty  years,  in  daily  contact 
with  the  world  and  its  sins,  Christ  lived  and  yet  knew 
no  sin.  To  His  will  and  conscience  it  was  a  foreign 
thing.  What  infinite  worth  that  sinless  life  possessed 
in  God's  sight  1  When  He  looked  down  to  earth  it 
was  the  one  absolutely  precious  thing.  Filled  full  of 
righteousness,  absolutely  well-pleasing  in  His  eyes,  it 
was  worth  more  to  God  than  all  the  world  beside. 

Now,  God  reconciled  the  world  to  Himself — He  made 
a  peace  which  could  be  proclaimed  and  offered  to  the 
world — when,  all  sinless  as  Christ  was,  He  made  Him 
to  be  sin  on  our  behalf.  What  does  this  mean  ?  Not, 
exactly,  that  He  made  Htm  a  sin-offering  on  our  behalf. 
The  expression  for  a  sin-offering  is  distinct  (jrepl 
dfjLapTia<;),  and  the  parallelism  with  hiKaioavvr]  in  the 
next  clause  forbids  that  reference  here.  The  sin-offering 
of  the  Old  Testament  can  at  most  have  pointed  towards 
and  dimly  suggested  so  tremendous  an  utterance  as 
this  ;  and  the  profoundest  word  of  the  New  Testament 
cannot  be  adequately  interpreted  by  anything  in  the 
Old.     When  St.   Paul  says,    "  Him  that  knew  no  sin 


220     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

God  made  sin,"  he  must  mean  that  in  Christ  on  His 
cross,  by  divine  appointment,  the  extremest  opposites 
met  and  became  one — incarnate  righteousness  and  the 
sin  of  the  world.  The  sin  is  laid  by  God  on  the  Sinless 
One ;  its  doom  is  laid  on  Him  ;  His  death  is  the  execu- 
tion of  the  divine  sentence  upon  it.  When  He  dies, 
He  has  put  away  sin  ;  it  no  longer  stands,  as  it  once 
.  stood,  between  God  and  the  world.  On  the  contrary, 
)  God  has  made  peace  by  this  great  transaction  ;  He  has 
wrought  out  reconciliation  ;  and  its  ministers  can  gc 
everywhere  with  this  awful  appeal :  '^Receive  the  recon- 
ciliation ;  Him  who  knew  no  sin  God  hath  made  sin  on 
our  behalf,  and  there  is  henceforth  no  condemnation  to 
them  that  are  in  Christ." 

No  one  who  has  felt  the  power  of  this  appeal  will 
be  very  anxious  to  defend  the  Apostolic  Gospel  from 
the  charges  which  are  sometimes  made  against  it. 
When  he  is  told  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  doom 
of  sin  to  fall  on  the  Sinless  One,  and  that  even  if 
it  were  conceivable  it  would  be  frightfully  immoral, 
he  is  not  disquieted.  He  recognises  in  the  moral 
contradictions  of  this  text  the  surest  sign  that  the 
secret  of  the  Atonement  is  revealed  in  it:  he  feels 
that  God's  work  of  reconciliation  necessarily  involves 
such  an  identification  of  sinlessness  and  sin.  He 
knows  that  there  is  an  appalling  side  to  sin,  and  he 
is  ready  to  believe  that  there  is  an  appalling  side  to 
redemption  also — a  side  the  most  distant  sight  of  which 
makes  the  proudest  heart  quail,  and  stops  every  mouth 
before  God.  He  knows  that  the  salvation  which  he 
needs  must  be  one  in  which  God's  mercy  comes  through, 
and  not  over,  His  judgment;  and  this  is  the  redemption 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  But  without  becoming  con- 
troversial on  a   subject    on  which  more  than   on   any 


V.  1 8-2 1 .]  RECON CILIA  TION  22 1 

other  the  temper  of  controversy  is  unseemly,  reference 
may  be  made  to  the  commonest  form  of  objection  to 
the  apostolic  doctrine,  in  the  sincere  hope  that  some 
one  who  has  stumbled  at  that  doctrine  may  see  it  more 
truly.  The  objection  I  refer  to  discredits  propitiation 
in  the  alleged  interest  of  the  love  of  God.  "  We  do 
not  need,"  the  objectors  say,  "  to  propitiate  an  angry 
God.  This  is  a  piece  of  heathenism,  of  which  a 
Christian  ought  to  be  ashamed.  It  is  a  libel  on  the 
God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose  name 
is  love,  and  who  waits  to  be  gracious."  What  are  we 
to  say  to  such  words,  which  are  uttered  as  boldly  as 
if  there  were  no  possible  reply,  or  rather  as  if  the 
Apostles  had  never  written,  or  had  been  narrow-minded 
unreceptive  souls,  who  had  not  only  failed  to  understand 
their  Master,  but  had  taught  with  amazing  perversity 
the  very  opposite  of  what  He  taught  on  the  most 
essential  of  all  points — the  nature  of  God  and  His 
relation  to  sinful  men  ?  We  must  say  this.  It  is 
quite  true  that  we  have  not  to  propitiate  an  offended 
God  :  the  very  fact  upon  which  the  Gospel  proceeds  is 
that  we  cannot  do  any  such  thing.  But  it  is  not  true 
that  no  propitiation  is  needed.  As  truly  as  guilt  is  a 
real  thing,  as  truly  as  God's  condemnation  of  sin  is 
a  real  thing,  a  propitiation  is  needed.  And  it  is  here, 
I  think,  that  those  who  make  the  objection  referred  to 
part  company,  not  only  with  St.  Paul,  but  with  all  the 
Apostles.  God  is  love,  they  say,  and  therefore  He 
does  not  require  a  propitiation.  God  is  love,  say  the 
Apostles,  and  therefore  He  provides  a  propitiation. 
Which  of  these  doctrines  appeals  best  to  the  conscience? 
Which  of  them  gives  reality,  and  contents,  and  sub- 
stance, to  the  love  of  God  ?  Is  it  not  the  apostolic 
doctrine  ?     Does  not  the  other  cut  out  and  cast  away 


222     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

that  very  thing  which  made  the  soul  of  God's  love  to 
Paul  and  John  ?  "  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved 
God,  but  that  He  loved  us,  and  sent  His  Son  to  be  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins.^*  '^  God  commendeth  His  love 
toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ 
died  for  us.  .  .  .  Him  that  knew  no  sin  He  made  to  be 
sin  on  our  behalf"  That  is  how  they  spoke  in  the 
beginning  of  the  Gospel,  and  so  let  us  speak\  Nobody 
has  any  right  to  borrow  the  words  '*  God  is  love " 
from  an  apostle,  and  then  to  put  them  in  circulation 
after  carefully  emptying  them  of  their  apostolic  import. 
Still  less  has  any  one  a  right  to  use  them  as  an 
argument  against  the  very  thing  in  which  the  Apostles 
placed  their  meaning^  But  this  is  what  they  do  who 
appeal  to  love  against  propitiation.  To  take  the  con- 
demnation out  of  the  Cross  is  to  take  the  nerve  out 
of  the  Gospel ;  it  will  cease  to  hold  men's  hearts  with 
its  original  power  when  the  reconciliation  which  is 
preached  through  it  contains  the  mercy,  but  not  the 
judgment  of  God.  Its  whole  virtue,  its  consistency 
with  God's  character,  its  aptness  to  man's  need,  its 
real  dimensions  as  a  revelation  of  love,  depend  ulti- 
mately on  this,  that  mercy  comes  to  us  in  it  through 
judgment. 

In  the  last  words  of  the  passage  the  Apostle  tells 
us  the  object  of  this  great  interposition  of  God  :  *'  He 
made  Christ  to  be  sin  on  our  behalf,  that  we  might 
become  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him."  Our  con- 
demnation is  made  His ;  it  is  accepted,  exhausted, 
annihilated,  on  His  cross;  and  when  we  receive  the 
reconciliation — when  we  humble  ourselves  to  be  forgiven 
and  restored  at  this  infinite  cost — there  is  no  longer 
condemnation  for  us  :  we  are  justified  by  our  faith, 
and    have   peace  with    God    through    our    Lord  Jesus 


V.I  8-2 1.]  RECONCILIATION  223 

Christ.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  becoming  the 
righteousness  of  God  in  Him.  It  is  not,  as  the  very 
next  sentence  suggests,  all  that  is  included  in  the 
Christian  salvation,  but  it  is  all  that  the  words  themselves 
contain.  "  /;/  Him  "  has  all  promise  in  it,  as  well  as 
the  present  possession  of  reconciliation,  with  which  the 
Christian  life  begins;  but  it  is  this  present  possession, 
and  not  the  promise  involved  in  it,  which  St.  Paul 
describes  as  the  righteousness  of  God.  In  Christ, 
that  Christ  who  died  for  us,  and  in  Him  in  virtue  of 
that  death  which  by  exhausting  condemnation  put 
away  sin,  we  are  accepted  in  God's  sight. 


XVII 

THE  SIGNS  OF  AN  APOSTLE 

"And  working  together  with  Him  we  intreat  also  that  ye  receive 
not  the  grace  of  God  in  vain  (for  He  saith, 

At  an  acceptable  time  I  hearkened  unto  thee, 
And  in  a  day  of  salvation  did  I  succour  thee  : 
behold,  now  is  the  acceptable  time;  behold,  now  is  the  day  of 
salvation)  :  giving  no  occasion  of  stumbling  in  anything,  that  our 
ministration  be  not  blamed  ;  but  in  everything  commending  ourselves, 
as  ministers  of  God,  in  much  patience,  in  afflictions,  in  necessities, 
in  distresses,  in  stripes,  in  imprisonments,  in  tumults,  in  labours,  in 
watchings,  in  fastings ;  in  pureness,  in  knowledge,  in  long-suffering, 
in  kindness,  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  love  unfeigned,  in  the  word  of 
truth,  in  the  power  of  God  ;  by  the  armour  of  righteousness  on  the 
right  hand  and  on  the  left,  by  glory  and  dishonour,  by  evil  report  and 
good  report;  as  deceivers,  and  yet  true;  as  unknown,  and  yet  well 
known ;  as  dying,  and  behold,  we  live  ;  as  chastened,  and  not  killed  ; 
as  sorrowful,  yet  alway  rejoicing  ;  as  poor,  yet  making  many  rich  ; 
as  having  nothing,  Rnd  yet  possessing  all  things. 

"  Our  mouth  is  open  unto  you,  O  Corinthians,  our  heart  is  enlarged. 
Ye  are  not  straitened  in  us,  but  ye  are  straitened  in  your  own 
affections.  Now  for  a  recompense  in  like  kind  (I  speak  as  unto  my 
children),  be  ye  also  enlarged." — 2  Cor.  vi.  1-13  (R.V.). 

THE  ministry  of  the  Gospel  is  a  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation ;  the  preacher  of  the  Gospel  is  primarily 
an  evangelist.  He  has  to  proclaim  that  wonderful 
grace  of  God  which  made  peace  between  heaven  and 
earth  through  the  blood  of  the  Cross,  and  he  has  to 
urge  men  to  receive  it.     Until  this  is  done,  there  is 

224 


vi.  1-13.]  THE  SIGNS  OF  AN  APOSTLE  225 

nothing  else  that  he  can  do.  But  when  sinful  men 
have  welcomed  the  glad  tidings,  when  they  have  con- 
sented to  accept  the  peace  bought  for  them  with  so 
great  a  price,  when  they  have  endured  to  be  forgiven 
and  restored  to  God's  favour,  not  for  what  they  are, 
nor  for  what  they  are  going  to  be,  but  solely  for  what 
Christ  did  for  them  on  the  cross,  then  a  new  situation 
is  created,  and  the  minister  of  the  Gospel  has  a  new 
task.  It  is  to  that  situation  St.  Paul  addresses  himself 
here.  Recognising  the  Corinthians  as  people  reconciled 
to  God  by  the  death  of  His  Son,  he  entreats  them  not 
to  receive  the  grace  of  God  in  vain.  He  does  so, 
according  to  our  Bibles,  as  a  fellow-worker  with  God. 
This  is  probably  right,  though  some  would  take  the  word 
as  in  chap.  i.  24,  and  make  it  mean  "  as  fellow-workers 
with  you."  But  it  is  more  natural,  when  we  look  to 
what  precedes,  to  think  that  St.  Paul  is  here  identifying 
himself  with  God's  interest  in  the  world,  and  that  he 
speaks  out  of  the  proud  consciousness  of  doing  so. 
"  All  is  of  God,"  in  the  great  work  of  redemption  ;  but 
God  does  not  disdain  the  sympathetic  co-operation  of 
men  whose  hearts  He  has  touched. 

But  what  is  meant  by  receiving  the  grace  of  God  in 
vain,  or  to  no  purpose?  That  might  be  done  in  an 
infinite  variety  of  ways,  and  in  reading  the  words  for 
edification  we  naturally  grasp  at  any  clue  suggested  by 
our  circumstances.  An  expositor  is  bound  to  seek  his 
clue  rather  in  the  circumstances  of  the  Corinthians  ;  and 
if  we  have  regard  to  the  general  tenor  of  this  Epistle, 
and  especially  to  such  a  passage  as  chap.  xi.  4,  we 
shall  find  the  true  interpretation  without  difficulty. 
Paul  has  explained  his  Gospel — his  proclamation  of 
Jesus  as  Universal  Redeemer  in  virtue  of  His  dying 
the  sinner's  death,  and  as  Universal  Lord  in  virtue  of 

15 


226     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

His  resurrection  from  the  dead — so  explicitly,  because 
he  fears  lest  through  the  influence  of  some  false  teacher 
the  minds  of  the  Corinthians  should  be  corrupted  from 
the  simplicity  that  is  toward  Christ.  It  would  be 
receiving  the  grace  of  God  in  vain,  if,  after  receiving 
those  truths  concerning  Christ  which  he  had  taught 
them,  they  were  to  give  up  his  Gospel  for  another  in 
which  these  truths  had  no  place.  This  is  what  he 
dreads  and  deprecates,  both  in  Corinth  and  Galatia : 
the  precipitate  removal  from  the  grace  of  Christ  to 
another  Gospel  which  is  no  Gospel  at  all,  but  a 
subversion  of  the  truth.  This  is  what  he  means  by 
receiving  the  grace  of  God  in  vain. 

There  are  some  minds  to  which  this  will  not  be 
impressive,  some  to  which  it  will  only  be  provoking. 
It  will  seem  irrelevant  and  pithless  to  those  who  take 
for  granted  the  finality  of  the  distinction  between 
religion  and  theology,  or  between  the  theory,  as  it  is 
called,  and  the  fact  of  the  Atonement.  But  for  St.  Paul, 
as  for  all  sufficiently  earnest  and  vigorous  minds,  there 
is  a  point  at  which  these  distinctions  disappear.  A 
certain  theory  is  seen  to  be  essential  to  the  fact,  a 
certain  theology  to  be  the  constitutive  force  in  the 
religion.  The  death  of  Christ  was  what  it  was  to  him 
only  because  it  was  capable  of  a  certain  interpretation  : 
his  theory  of  it,  if  we  choose  to  put  it  so,  gave  it  its 
power  over  him.  The  love  of  Christ  constrained  him 
"  because  he  thus  judged  " — />.,  because  he  construed 
it  to  his  intelligence  in  a  way  which  showed  it  to  be 
irresistible.  If  these  interpretations  and  constructions 
are  rejected,  it  must  not  be  in  the  name  of  "  fact "  as 
opposed  to  "  theory,"  but  in  the  name  of  other  inter- 
pretations more  adequate  and  constraining.  A  fact  of 
which  there  is  absolutely  no  theory  is  a  fact  which  is 


vi.  1-13.]  THE  SIGNS  OF  AN  APOSTLE  227 


without  relation  to  anything  in  the  universe — a  mere 
irrelevance  in  man's  mind — a  blank  incredibility — a 
rock  in  the  sky.  Paul's  "theory"  about  Christ's  death 
for  sin  was  not  to  him  an  excrescence  on  the  Gospel, 
or  a  superfluous  appendage  to  it :  it  was  itself  the 
Gospel ;  it  was  the  thing  in  which  the  very  soul  of 
God's  redeeming  love  was  brought  to  light ;  it  was  the 
condition  under  which  the  love  of  Christ  became  to 
him  a  constraining  power ;  to  receive  it  and  then  reject 
it  was  to  receive  the  grace  of  God  in  vain. 

This  does  not  preclude  us  from  the  edifying  applica- 
tion of  these  words  which  a  modern  reader  almost 
instinctively  makes.  Peace  with  God  is  the  first  and 
deepest  need  of  the  sinful  soul,  but  it  is  not  the  sum- 
total  of  salvation.  It  would,  indeed,  be  received  in 
vain,  if  the  soul  did  not  on  the  basis  of  it  proceed  to 
build  up  the  new  life  in  new  purity  and  power.  The 
failure  to  do  this  is,  unhappily,  only  too  common. 
There  is  no  mechanical  guarantee  for  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit ;  no  assurance,  such  as  would  make  this  appeal 
unnecessary,  that  every  man  who  has  received  the 
word  of  reconciliation  will  also  walk  in  newness  of  life. 
But  if  an  evangelical  profession,  and  an  immoral  life, 
are  the  ugliest  combination  of  which  human  nature  is 
capable,  the  force  of  this  appeal  ought  to  be  felt  by  the 
weakest  and  the  worst.  "The  Son  of  God  loved  me, 
and  gave  Himself  for  me  "  :  can  any  of  us  hide  that 
word  in  his  heart,  and  Hve  on  as  if  it  meant  nothing 
at  all  ? 

Paul  emphasises  his  appeal  to  the  Corinthians  by 
a  striking  quotation  from  an  ancient  prophet  (Isa. 
xlix.  8):  "At  an  acceptable  time  did  I  hearken 
unto  thee.  And  in  a  day  of  salvation  did  I  succour 
thee " ;   and  he  points  it   by  the  joyful  exclamation  : 


228     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

"  Behold,  now  is  the  acceptable  time  ;  behold,  now  is  the 
day  of  salvation."  The  passage  in  Isaiah  refers  to  the 
servant  of  Jehovah,  and  some  scholars  would  insist 
that  even  in  the  quotation  a  primary  application  must 
be  made  to  Christ.  The  ambassadors  of  the  Gospel 
represent  His  interest  (chap.  v.  20)  ;  this  verse  is,  as  it 
were,  the  answer  to  His  prayer:  ''Father,  the  hour  is 
come  :  glorify  Thy  Son."  In  answering  the  Son,  the 
Father  introduces  the  era  of  grace  for  all  who  are, 
or  shall  be,  Christ's  :  behold,  now  is  the  time  in  which 
God  shows  us  favour ;  now  is  the  day  on  which  He 
saves  us.  This  is  rather  scholastic  than  apostolic, 
and  it  is  far  more  probable  that  St.  Paul  borrows  the 
prophet's  words,  as  he  often  does,  because  they  suit 
him,  without  thinking  of  their  original  application. 
What  is  striking  in  the  passage,  and  characteristic  both 
of  the  writer  and  of  the  New  Testament,  is  the  union 
of  urgency  and  triumph  in  the  tone.  "  Now  "  does 
certainly  mean  "  now  or  never  "  ;  but  more  prominently 
still  it  means  "in  a  time  so  favoured  as  this :  in  a  time 
so  graced  with  opportunity."  The  best  illustration  of 
it  is  the  saying  of  Jesus  to  the  Apostles :  "  Blessed  are 
your  eyes,  for  they  see ;  and  your  ears,  for  they  hear. 
For  verily  I  say  unto  you.  That  many  prophets  and 
righteous  men  have  desired  to  see  those  things  which 
ye  see,  and  have  not  seen  them ;  and  to  hear  those 
things  which  ye  hear,  and  have  not  heard  them."  Now, 
that  we  live  under  the  reign  of  grace  ;  now,  when  God's 
redeeming  love,  omnipotent  to  save,  shines  on  us  from 
the  Cross ;  now,  that  the  last  days  have  come,  and  the 
Judge  is  at  the  door,  let  us  with  all  seriousness,  and 
all  joy,  work  out  our  own  salvation,  lest  we  make  the 
grace  of  God  of  no  effect. 

St.  Paul  is  as  careful  himself  as  he  would  have  the 


vi.  1-13.]  THE  SIGNS  OF  AN  APOSTLE  229 

Corinthians  to  be.  He  does  not  wish  them  to  receive 
the  Gospel  in  vain,  and  he  takes  pains  that  it  shall 
not  be  frustrated  through  any  fault  of  his:  "working 
together  with  God  we  intreat  you  .  .  .  giving  no 
occasion  of  stumbling  in  anything,  that  our  ministra- 
tion be  not  blamed."  It  is  almost  implied  in  a  sentence 
like  this  that  there  are  people  who  will  be  glad  of  an 
excuse  not  to  listen  to  the  Gospel,  or  not  to  take  it 
seriously,  and  that  they  will  look  for  such  an  excuse 
in  the  conduct  of  its  ministers.  Anything  in  the 
minister  to  which  objection  can  be  raised  will  be  used 
as  a  shield  against  the  Gospel.  It  does  not  matter  that 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  this  plea  for  declining  the  grace 
of  God  is  impudent  hypocrisy  ;  it  is  one  which  the  non- 
Christian  should  never  have.  If  it  is  not  the  chief  end 
of  the  evangelist  to  give  no  occasion  of  stumbling,  it  is 
one  of  his  chief  rules.  This  is  a  matter  on  which  Jesus 
lays  great  stress.  The  severest  words  He  ever  spoke 
were  spoken  against  those  whose  conduct  made  faith 
hard  and  unbelief  easy.  Of  course  they  were  spoken 
to  all,  but  they  have  special  application  to  those  who 
are  so  directly  identified  with  the  Gospel  as  its  ministers. 
It  is  to  them  men  naturally  look  for  the  proof  of  what 
grace  does.  If  its  reception  has  been  in  vain  in  them  ; 
if  they  have  not  learned  the  spirit  of  their  message ;  if 
their  pride,  or  indolence,  or  avarice,  or  ill-nature,  pro- 
voke the  anger  or  contempt  of  those  to  whom  they 
preach, — then  their  ministration  is  blamed,  and  the 
shadow  of  that  censure  falls  upon  their  message.  The 
grace  of  God  which  has  to  be  proclaimed  through 
human  lips,  and  to  attest  itself  by  its  power  over 
human  lives,  might  seem  to  be  put  in  this  way  to  too 
great  hazard  in  the  world ;  but  it  has  God  behind  it, 
or  rather  it  is  itself  God  at  work  in  His  ministers  as 


230     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

their  humility  and  fidehty  allow  Him  ;  and  in  spite  of 
the  occasions  of  stumbling  for  which  there  is  no  excuse, 
God  is  always  able  to  make  grace  prevail.  Through 
the  faults  of  its  ministers,  nay,  sometimes  even  with 
those  faults  as  a  foil,  men  see  how  good  and  how 
strong  that  grace  is. 

It  is  not  easy  to  comment  on  the  glowing  passage 
(vv.  4-10)  in  which  St.  Paul  expands  this  sober  habit 
of  giving  no  occasion  of  stumbling  in  anything  into 
a  description  of  his  apostolic  ministry.  Logically,  its 
value  is  obvious  enough.  He  means  the  Corinthians 
to  feel  that  if  they  turn  away  from  the  Gospel  which 
he  has  preached  to  them  they  are  passing  censure 
lightly  on  a  life  of  unparalleled  devotion  and  power. 
He  commends  himself  to  them,  as  God's  servants  ought 
always  to  do/  by  the  life  which  he  leads  in  the  exercise 
of  his  ministry ;  and  to  reject  his  Gospel  is  to  condemn 
his  life  as  worthless  or  misspent.  Will  they  venture 
to  do  that  when  they  are  reminded  of  what  it  is,  and 
when  they  feel  that  it  is  all  this  for  them  ?  No  right- 
minded  man  will,  without  provocation,  speak  about 
himself,  but  Paul  is  doubly  protected.  He  is  challenged, 
by  the  threatened  desertion  from  the  Gospel  of  some, 
at  least,  of  the  Corinthians;  and  it  is  not  so  much 
of  himself  he  speaks,  as  of  the  ministers  of  Christ ;  not 
so  much  on  his  own  behalf,  as  on  behalf  of  the  Gospel. 
The  fountains  of  the  great  deep  are  broken  up  within 
him  as  he  thinks  of  what  is  at  issue ;  he  is  in  all 
straits,  as  he  begins,  and  can  speak  only  in  unconnected 
words,  one  at  a  time ;  but  before  he  stops  he  has  won 
his  liberty,  and  pours  out  his  soul  without  restraint. 

It  is  needless  to  comment  on  each  of  the  eight-and 

*  Observe  that  it  is  wj  6coO  diaKovoL,  not  Sta/coi'oi'S. 


VI.  I-I3.]  THE  SIGNS   OF  AN  APOSTLE  231 

twenty  separate  phrases  in  wliich  St.  Paul  charac- 
terises his  \[(c  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  But  there 
are  what  might  be  called  breathing-places,  if  not  logical 
pauses,  in  the  outburst  of  feeling,  and  these,  as  it 
happens,  coincide  with  the  introduction  of  new  aspects 
of  his  work,  (i)  At  first  he  depicts  exclusively,  and 
in  single  words,  its  passive  side.  Christ  had  shown 
him  at  his  conversion  how  great  things  he  must  suffer 
for  His  name's  sake  (Acts  ix.  16),  and  here  is  his  own 
confirmation  of  the  Lord's  word  :  he  has  ministered 
"  in  much  patience — in  afflictions,  in  necessities,  in 
distresses  ;  in  stripes,  in  imprisonments,  in  tumults  " — 
where  the  enmity  of  men  was  conspicuous  ;  "  in  labours, 
in  watchings,  in  fastings  " — freely  exacted  by  his  own 
devotion.  These  nine  words  are  all,  in  a  manner, 
subordinated  to  "much  patience";  his  brave  endurance 
was  abundantly  shown  in  every  variety  of  pain  and 
distress.  (2)  At  ver.  6  he  makes  a  new  start,  and 
now  it  is  not  the  passive  and  physical  aspect  of  his 
w^ork  that  is  in  view,  but  the  active  and  spiritual.  All 
that  weight  of  suffering  did  not  extinguish  in  him 
the  virtues  of  the  new  life,  or  the  special  gifts  of  the 
Christian  minister.  He  wrought,  he  reminds  them,  "  in 
purity,  in  knowledge,  in  long-suffering,  in  kindness,  in 
the  Holy  Spirit,  in  love  unfeigned,  in  the  word  of 
truth,  in  the  power  of  God."  The  precise  import  of 
some  of  these  expressions  may  be  doubtful,  but  this 
is  of  less  consequence  than  the  general  tenor  of  the 
whole,  which  is  unmistakable.  Probably  some  of  the 
terms,  strictly  taken,  would  cross  each  other.  Thus 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  power  of  God,  if  we  compare 
such  passages  as  i  Cor.  ii.  4,  I  Thess.  i.  5,  are  very 
nearly  akin.  The  same  remark  would  apply  to 
*'  knowledge,"  and  to  "  the  word  of  truth,"  if  the  latter 


232     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

refers,  as  I  cannot  but  think  it  does/  to  the  Gospel. 
**  Purity "  is  naturally  taken  in  the  widest  sense,  and 
"  undissembled  love "  is  peculiarly  appropriate  when 
we  think  of  the  feelings  with  which  some  of  the 
Corinthians  regarded  Paul.  But  the  main  thing  to 
notice  is  how  the  "much  endurance,"  which,  to  a  super- 
ficial observer,  is  the  most  conspicuous  characteristic  of 
the  Apostle's  ministry,  is  balanced  by  a  great  mani- 
festation of  spiritual  force  from  within.  Of  all  men  in 
the  world  he  was  the  weakest  to  look  at,  the  most 
battered,  burdened,  and  depressed,  yet  no  one  else  had 
in  him  such  a  fountain  as  he  of  the  most  powerful  and 
gracious  life.  And  then  (3)  after  another  pause,  marked 
this  time  by  a  slight  change  in  the  construction  (from 
ev  to  S^a),  he  goes  on  to  enlarge  upon  the  whole 
conditions  under  which  his  ministry  is  fulfilled,  and 
especially  on  the  extraordinary  contrasts  which  are 
reconciled  in  it.  We  commend  ourselves  in  our  work, 
he  says,  "  by  the  armour  of  righteousness  on  the  right 
hand  and  the  left,  by  glory  and  dishonour,  by  evil 
report  and  good  report :  as  deceivers,  and  yet  true ;  as 
unknown,  and  yet  coming  to  be  well  known ;  as  dying, 
and  behold,  we  live ;  as  chastened,  and  not  killed  ;  as 
sorrowing,  yet  ever  rejoicing ;  as  poor,  yet  making 
many  rich  ;  as  having  nothing,  and  yet  possessing  all 
things."  Here  again  it  is  not  the  details  that  are 
important,  but  the  whole,  and  yet  the  details  require 
notice.  The  armour  of  righteousness  is  that  which 
righteousness  supplies,  or  it  may  even  be  that  which 
righteousness  is  :  Paul's  character  equips  him  right  and 
left ;  it  is  both  spear  and  shield,  and  makes  him 
competent    either    for    attack    or    defence.       Without 

*  Some,  because  of  the  want  of  the  article,  make  it  equivalent  to 
"veracity." 


vi.  1-13.]  THE  SIGNS  OF  AN  APOSTLE  233 

righteousness,  in  this  sense  of  integrity,  he  could  not 
commend  himself  in  his  work  as  a  minister  of  God.^ 
But  not  only  does  his  real  character  commend  him ; 
his  reputation  does  the  same  service,  however  various 
that  reputation  may  be.  Through  honour  and  dishonour, 
through  evil  report  and  good  report — through  the  truth 
that  is  told  about  him,  and  through  the  lies — through 
the  esteem  of  his  friends,  the  malignity  of  his  enemies, 
the  contempt  of  strangers — the  same  man  comes  out, 
in  the  same  character,  devoted  always  in  the  same 
spirit  to  the  same  calling.  It  is  indeed  his  very  devotion 
which  produces  these  opposite  estimates,  and  hence, 
inconsistent  as  they  are,  they  agree  in  recommending 
him  as  a  servant  of  God.  Some  said  "  He  is  beside 
himself,"  and  others  would  have  plucked  out  their  eyes 
for  his  sake,  yet  both  these  extremely  opposite  attitudes 
were  produced  by  the  very  same  thing — the  passionate 
earnestness  with  which  he  served  Christ  in  the  Gospel. 
There  are  good  scholars  who  think  that  the  clauses 
beginning  *'as  deceivers,  and  true,"  are  the  Apostle's 
own  commentary  on  "  through  evil  report  and  good 
report " ;  in  other  words,  that  in  these  clauses  he  is 
giving  samples  of  the  way  in  which  he  was  spoken  of, 
to  his  honour  or  dishonour,  and  glorying  that  honour 
and  dishonour  alike  only  guaranteed  more  thoroughly 
his  claim  to  be  a  minister  of  God.  This  might  suit  the 
first  two  pairs  of  contrasts  (*'as  deceivers,  and  true; 
as  unknown,  and  gaining  recognition"),  but  it  does  not 
suit  the  next  ("  as  dying,  and  behold  we  live  "),  in  which, 
as  in  those  that  follow,  the  Apostle  is  not  repeating 
what  was  said  by  others,  but  speaking  for  himself,  and 
stating    truth    equally  on    both   sides    of   the    account. 

'  Beet,  however,   takes  it  in  the  technical   sense  :   justification  by 
faith  is  the  preacher's  sword  and  shield. 


234     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

After  the  first  pair,  there  is  no  ''  dishonour,"  or  *'  evil 
report,"  in  any  of  the  states  which  he  contrasts  with 
each  other :  though  opposites,  they  have  each  their 
truth,  and  the  power  and  beauty  of  the  passage,  and  of 
the  Hfe  w^hich  it  describes,  He  simply  in  this,  that  both 
are  true,  and  that  through  all  such  contrasts  St.  Paul 
can  prove  himself  the  same  loyal  minister  of  the 
reconciliation. 

Each  pair  of  opposites  might  furnish  by  itself  a 
subject  for  discourse,  but  what  we  are  rather  concerned 
with  is  the  impression  produced  by  the  whole.  In 
their  variety  they  give  us  a  vivid  idea  of  the  range  of 
St.  Paul's  experiences ;  in  the  regularity  with  which 
he  puts  the  higher  last,  and  in  the  climax  with  which 
he  concludes,  they  show  the  victorious  spirit  with 
which  he  confronted  all  that  various  life.  An  ordinary 
Christian — an  ordinary  minister  of  the  Gospel — may 
well  feel,  as  he  reads,  that  his  own  life  is  by  com- 
parison empty  and  commonplace.  There  is  not  that 
terrible  pressure  on  him  from  without;  there  is  not 
that  irrepressible  fountain  of  grace  within  ;  there  is  not 
that  triumphant  spirit  which  can  subdue  all  the  world 
contains — honour  and  dishonour,  evil  report  and  good 
report — and  make  it  pay  tribute  to  the  Gospel,  and  to 
himself  as  a  Gospel  minister.  Yet  the  world  has  still 
all  possible  experiences  ready  for  those  who  give 
themselves  to  the  service  of  God  with  the  w^hole- 
heartedness  of  Paul :  it  will  show  them  its  best  and  its 
worst;  its  reverence,  affection,  and  praise;  its  hatred, 
its  indifference,  its  scorn.  And  it  is  in  the  facing  of 
all  such  experiences  by  God's  ministers  that  the  ministry 
receives  its  highest  attestation  :  they  are  enabled  to 
turn  all  to  profit ;  in  ignominy  and  in  honour  alike 
they  are  made    more    than    conquerors    through   Him 


vi.  1-13.]  THE  SIGNS   OF  AN  APOSTLE  235 

who  loved  them.  St.  Paul's  pica  rises  involuntarily 
into  a  pcean  ;  he  begins,  as  we  saw,  with  the  embar- 
rassed tone  of  a  man  who  wishes  to  persuade  others 
that  he  has  taken  sincere  pains  not  to  frustrate  his 
work  by  faults  he  could  have  avoided — "  giving  no 
occasion  of  stumbling  in  anything,  that  the  ministry  be 
not  blamed  " ;  but  he  is  carried  higher  and  higher,  as 
the  tide  of  feeling  rises  within  him,  till  it  sets  him 
beyond  the  reach  of  blame  or  praise — at  Christ's  right 
hand,  where  all  things  are  his.  Here  is  a  signal  fulfil- 
ment of  that  word  of  the  Lord  :  ''  I  am  come  that  they 
might  have  life,  and  might  have  it  more  abundantly." 
Who  could  have  it  more  abundantly,  more  triumphantly 
strong  through  all  its  vicissitudes,  than  the  man  who 
dictated  these  lines  ? 

The  passage  closes  with  an  appeal  in  which  Paul 
descends  from  this  supreme  height  to  the  most  direct 
and  affectionate  address.  He  names  his  readers  by 
name  :  "  Our  mouth  is  open  unto  you,  O  Corinthians  ;^ 
our  heart  is  enlarged."  He  means  that  he  has  treated 
them  with  the  utmost  frankness  and  cordiality.  With 
strangers  we  use  reserve  ;  we  do  not  let  ourselves  go, 
nor  indulge  in  any  effusion  of  heart.  But  he  has  not 
made  strangers  of  them ;  he  has  relieved  his  over- 
charged heart  before  them,  and  he  has  established  a 
new  claim  on  their  confidence  in  doing  so.  "  Ye  are 
not  straitened  in  us,"  he  writes  ;  that  is,  "  The  awkward- 
ness and  constraint  of  which  you  are  conscious  in  your 
relations  with  me  are  not  due  to  anything  on  my  side ; 
my  heart  has  been  made  wide,  and  you  have  plenty 
of  room  in  it.  But  you  are  straitened  in  your  own 
affections.     It  is  your  hearts  that  are  narrow  :  cramped 

'  Riira  et  prcvscuiissitiui  appellatio  (Bcngel), 


236     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

and  confined  with  unworthy  suspicions,  and  with  the 
feeling  that  you  have  done  me  a  wrong  which  you  are  not 
quite  prepared  to  rectify.  Overcome  these  ungenerous 
thoughts  at  once.  Give  me  a  recompense  in  kmd  for 
my  treatment  of  you.  I  have  opened  my  heart  wide, 
to  you  and  for  you  ;  open  your  hearts  as  freely,  to  me 
and  for  me.  I  am  your  father  in  Christ,  and  I  have  a 
right  to  this  from  my  children." 

When  we  take  this  passage  as  a  whole,  in  its  original 
bearings,  one  thing  is  plain  :  that  want  of  love  and 
confidence  between  the  minister  of  the  Gospel  and  those 
to  whom  he  ministers  has  great  power  to  frustrate  the 
grace  of  God.  There  may  have  been  a  teal  revival 
under  the  minister's  preaching — a  real  reception  of 
the  grace  which  he  proclaims — but  all  will  be  in  vain 
if  mutual  confidence  fails.  If  he  gives  occasion  of 
stumbling  in  something,  and  the  ministry  is  blamed ; 
or  if  malice  and  falsehood  sow  the  seeds  of  dissension 
between  him  and  his  brethren,  the  grand  condition  of 
an  effective  ministry  is  gone.  *'  Beloved,  let  us  love 
one  another,"  if  we  do  not  wish  the  virtue  of  the  Cross 
to  be  of  no  effect  in  us. 


XVIII 

NEW  TESTAMENT  PURITANISM 

"Be  not  unequally  yoked  with  unbelievers:  for  what  fellowship 
have  righteousness  and  iniquity?  or  what  communion  hath  light 
with  darkness?  And  what  concord  hath  Christ  with  Belial?  or 
what  portion  hath  a  believer  wdth  an  unbeliever  ?  And  what  agree- 
ment hath  a  temple  of  God  with  idols  ?  for  we  are  a  temple  of  the 
living  God;  even  as  God  said,  I  will  dwell  in  them,  and  walk  in  them; 
and  I  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  My  people.    Wherefore 

Come  ye  out  from  among  )-hem,  and  be  ye  separate, 
saith  the  Lord, 

And  touch  no  unclean  thing; 

And  I  will  receive  you, 

And  will  be  to  j'ou  a  Father, 

And  ye  shall  be  to  Me  sons  and  daughters, 
saith  the  Lord  Almighty.     Having  therefore  these  promises,  beloved, 
let   us   cleanse   ourselves   from   all   defilement   of   flesh    and   spirit, 
perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God." — 2  Cor.  vi.  14-vii.  i  (R.V.). 

THIS  is  one  of  the  most  peculiar  passages  in  the 
New  Testament.  Even  a  careless  reader  must 
feel  that  there  is  something  abrupt  and  unexpected 
in  it ;  it  jolts  the  mind  as  a  stone  on  the  road  does  a 
carriage  wheel.  Paul  has  been  begging  the  Corinthians 
to  treat  him  with  the  same  love  and  confidence  which 
he  has  always  shown  to  them,  and  he  urges  this  claim 
upon  them  up  to  ver.  13.  Then  comes  this  passage 
about  the  relation  of  Christians  to  the  world.  Then 
again,  at  chap.  vii.  2 — "  Open  your  hearts  to  us ;  we 
wronged    no    man,    we    corrupted    no   man,    we    took 

237 


238     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

advantage  of  no  man  " — he  returns  to  the  old  subject 
without  the  least  mark  of  transition.  If  everything 
were  omitted  from  chap.  vi.  14  to  chap.  vii.  i  inclusive, 
the  continuity  both  of  thought  and  feeling  would  be 
much  more  striking.  This  consideration  alone  has 
induced  many  scholars  to  believe  that  these  verses  do 
not  occupy  their  original  place.  The  ingenious  sug- 
gestion has  been  made  that  they  are  a  fragment  of  the 
letter  to  which  the  Apostle  refers  in  the  First  Epistle 
(chap.  V.  9)  :  the  sentiment,  and  to  some  extent  even 
the  words,  favour  this  conjecture.  But  as  there  is  no 
external  authority  for  any  conjecture  whatever,  and 
no  variation  in  the  text,  such  suggestions  can  never 
become  conclusive.  It  is  always  possible  that,  on 
reading  over  his  letter,  the  Apostle  himself  may  have 
inserted  a  paragraph  breaking  to  some  extent  the 
closeness  of  the  original  connexion.  If  there  is  nothing 
in  the  contents  of  the  section  inconsistent  with  his 
mind,  the  breach  of  continuity  is  not  enough  to  dis- 
credit it. 

Some,  however,  have  gone  further  than  this.  They 
have  pointed  to  the  strange  formulae  of  quotation — "  as 
God  said,"  "  saith  the  Lord,"  "  saith  the  Lord  Almighty  " 
— as  unlike  Paul.  Even  the  main  idea  of  the  passage 
— "touch  not  any  unclean  thing" — is  asserted  to  be 
at  variance  with  his  principles.  A  narrow  Jewish 
Christian  might,  it  is  said,  have  expressed  this  shrink- 
ing from  what  is  unclean,  in  the  sense  of  being  associated 
with  idolatry,  but  not  the  great  Apostle  of  liberty.  At 
all  events  he  would  have  taken  care,  in  giving  such 
an  advice  under  special  circumstances,  to  safeguard 
the  principle  of  freedom.  And,  finally,  an  argument  is 
drawn  from  language.  The  only  point  at  which  it  is 
even   plausible  is   that  which   touches   upon   the  use 


vi.  14-vii.  I.]     NEIV  TESTAMENT  PURITANISM  239 

of  the  terms  *^  flesh "  and  "spirit"  in  chap,  vii,  i. 
Schiiiiedel,  who  has  an  admirable  excursus  on  the 
whole  question,  decides  that  this,  and  this  only,  is 
certainly  un-Pauline.  It  is  certainly  unusual  in  Paul, 
but  1  do  not  think  we  can  say  more.  The  "rigour 
and  vigour"  with  which  Paul's  use  of  these  terms  is 
investigated  seems  to  me  largely  misplaced.  They  did 
undoubtedly  tend  to  become  technical  in  his  mind,  but 
words  so  universally  and  so  vaguely  used  could  never 
become  simply  technical.  If  any  contemporary  of  Paul 
could  have  written,  "Let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all 
defilement  of  flesh  and  spirit,"  then  Paul  himself  could 
have  written  it.  Language  offers  the  same  latitudes 
and  liberties  to  everybody,  and  one  could  not  imagine 
a  subject  which  tempted  less  to  technicality  than  the 
one  urged  in  these  verses.  Whatever  the  explanation 
of  their  apparently  irrelevant  insertion  here,  I  can  see 
nothing  in  them  alien  to  Paul.  Puritanism  is  certainly 
more  akin  to  the  Old  Testament  than  to  the  New,  and 
that  may  explain  the  instinctiveness  with  which  the 
writer  seems  to  turn  to  the  law  and  the  prophets,  and 
the  abundance  of  his  quotations;  but  though  "all 
things  are  lawful "  to  the  Christian,  Puritanism  has  a 
place  in  the  New  Testament  too.  There  is  no  con- 
ception of  "  holiness  "  into  which  the  idea  of  "  separa- 
tion "  does  not  enter ;  and  though  the  balance  of 
elements  may  vary  in  the  New  Testament  as  compared 
with  the  Old,  none  can  be  wanting.  From  this  point 
of  view  we  can  best  examine  the  meaning  and  applica- 
tion of  the  passage.  If  a  connexion  is  craved,  the 
best,  I  think,  is  that  furnished  by  a  combination  of 
Calvin  and  Meyer.  Quasi  recuperata  auctoritate,  says 
Calvin,  liberhis  jam  eos  objiirgat :  this  supplies  a  link 
of  feeling  between  vv.  13  and   14.     A  link  of  thought 


240     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

is  supplied  if  we  consider  with  Meyer  that  inattention 
to  the  rule  of  life  here  laid  down  was  a  notable  cause 
of  receiving  the  grace  of  God  in  vain  (ver.  i).^  Let 
us  notice  (i)  the  moral  demand  of  the  passage;  (2)  the 
assumption  on  which  it  rests ;  (3)  the  Divine  promise 
which  inspires  its  observance.  ^ 

(i)  The  moral  demand  is  first  put  in  the  negative 
form  :  *'  Be  not  unequally  yoked  with  unbelievers."  The 
peculiar  word  erepo^uyovvref;  (**  unequally  yoked  ")  has  a 
cognate  form  in  Lev.  xix.  19,  in  the  law  which  forbids 
the  breeding  of  hybrid  animals.  God  has  estabhshed 
a  good  physical  order  in  the  world,  and  it  is  not  to 
be  confounded  and  disfigured  by  the  mixing  of  species. 
It  is  that  law  (or  perhaps  another  form  of  it  in  Deut. 
xxii.  10,  forbidding  an  Israelite  to  plough  with  an  ox 
and  an  ass  under  the  same  yoke)  that  is  applied  in  an 
ethical  sense  in  this  passage.  There  is  a  wholesome 
moral  order  in  the  world  also,  and  it  is  not  to  be  con- 
fused by  the  association  of  its  different  kinds.  The 
common  application  of  this  text  to  the  marriage  of 
Christians  and  non-Christians  is  legitimate,  but  too 
[  narrow.  The  text  prohibits  every  kind  of  union  in 
which  the  separate  character  and  interest  of  the  Chris- 

(  tian  lose  anything  of  their  distinctiveness  and  integrity. 

j 

•  An  ingenious  defence  of  the  place  of  these  verses  has  been  made 
by  Godet  in  his  Introduction  to  St.  Paul's  Epistles.  At  chap,  vi,  10 
the  Apostle  suddenly  stops,  amazed,  as  it  were,  at  himself  and  at  what 
the  Spirit  has  just  dictated  to  him.  His  heart  swells,  and  he  longs  to 
embrace  the  thankless  Church  to  which  he  writes.  What  can  be 
the  cause  of  its  ingratitude  ?  It  is  this.  He  has  inexorably  exacted 
from  them  a  sacrifice  claimed  by  their  Christian  profession — abstinence 
from  banquets,  etc.,  in  idol  temples  (i  Cor.  x.).  But  he  has  had  no 
choice ;  the  promises  God  makes  to  His  sons  and  daughters  are  made 
on  condition  of  such  separation.  Hence  the  entreaty  in  vii.  2f., 
"  Make  room  for  me  in  your  hearts :  I  have  not  deserved  ill  of  any 
one  by  what  I  have  done." — Introduction,  p.  381. 


vi.  i4-vii.i.]     NEIV   TESTAMENT  PURITANISM  241 

This  is  brought  out  more  strongly  in  the  free  quotation  | 
from  Isa.  hi.   11   in  ver.  17:  ''Come  out  from  among  ) 
them,  and  be  separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and  touch  not  \ 
anything  unclean."     These  words  were  originally  ad-  ' 
dressed  to  the  priests  who,  on  the  redemption  of  Israel 
from  Babylon,  were  to  carry  the  sacred  temple  vessels 
back  to  Jerusalem.     But  we  must  remember  that,  though 
they  are  Old  Testament  words,  they  are  quoted  by  a 
New  Testament  writer,  who  inevitably  puts  his  own 
meaning  into  them.     "  The  unclean  thing "  which  no 
Christian  is  to  touch  is  not  to  be  taken  in  a  precise 
Levitical  sense ;  it  covers,  and  I  have  no  doubt  was 
intended  by  the  writer  to  cover,  all  that  it  suggests  to 
any  simple  Christian  mind  now.     We  are  to  have  no| 
compromising  connexion  with   anything  in  the  world  | 
which  is  alien  to  God.     Let  us  be  as  loving  and  con-i 
ciliatory  as  we  please,  but  as  long  as  the  world  is  what 
it  is,  the  Christian  life  can  only  maintain  itself  in  it  in 
an  attitude  of  protest.     There  always  will   be  things' 
and  people  to  whom  the  Christian  has  to  say  No  1 

But  the  moral  demand  of  the  passage  is  put  in  a 
more  positive  form  in  the  last  verse :   **  Let  us  cleanse 
ourselves  from  all  defilement  of  flesh  and  spirit,  per-  ■ 
fecting  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God."     That  is  the  ideal  > 
of  the  Christian  life.     There  is  something  to  be  over-  ' 
come  and  put  away ;  there  is  something  to  be  wrought 
out   and    completed ;    there    is  a  spiritual   element   or 
atmosphere — the    fear  of  God — in  which   alone  these 
tasks  can   be   accomplished.     The  fear  of  God  is  an 
Old  Testament  name  for  true  religion,  and  even  under 
the  New  Testament  it  holds  its  place.     The  Seraphim 
still  veil  their  faces  while  they  cry  "  Holy,  holy,  holy  is 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,"  and  still  we  must  feel  that  great 
awe  descend  upon  our  hearts  if  we  would  be  partakers 

16 


242     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

of  His  holiness.  It  is  this  which  withers  up  sin  to  the 
root,  and  enables  us  to  cleanse  ourselves  from  all 
defilement  of  flesh  and  spirit.  St.  Paul  includes  him- 
self in  his  exhortation  here :  it  is  one  duty,  one  ideal, 
which  is  set  before  all.  The  prompt  decisive  side  of  it 
is  represented  in  KaOapiacofjuev  ("let  us  cleanse"  :  observe 
the  aorist) ;  its  patient  laborious  side  in  eTrtreXovvTe^; 
ayLwavpTjv  (''carrying  holiness  to  completion)."  Almost 
everybody  in  a  Christian  Church  makes  a  beginning 
with  this  task  :  we  cleanse  ourselves  from  obvious  and 
superficial  defilements ;  but  how  few  carry  the  work 
on  into  the  spirit,  how  few  carry  it  on  ceaselessly 
towards  perfection.  As  year  after  year  rolls  by,  as 
the  various  experiences  of  life  come  to  us  with  their 
lessons  and  their  discipline  from  God,  as  we  see  the 
lives  of  others,  here  sinking  ever  deeper  and  deeper 
into  the  corruptions  of  the  world,  there  rising  daily 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  perfect  holiness  which  is  their 
goal,  does  not  this  demand  assert  its  power  over  us  ? 
Is  it  not  a  great  thing,  a  worthy  thing,  that  we  should 
set  ourselves  to  purge  away  from  our  whole  nature, 
outward  and  inward,  whatever  cannot  abide  the  holy 
eye  of  God;  and  that  we  should  regard  Christian 
hofmess,  not  as  a  subject  for  casual  thoughts  once  a 
week,  but  as  the  task  to  be  taken  up  anew,  with 
unwearying  diligence,  every  day  we  live  ?  Let  us  be 
in  earnest  with  this,  for  surely  God  is  in  earnest. 

(2)  Observe  now  the  assumption  on  which  the  demand 
not  to  be  unequally  yoked  with  unbelievers  is  based. 
It  is  that  there  are  two  ethical  or  spiritual  interests  in 
the  world,  and  that  these  are  fundamentally  inconsis- 
tent with  each  other.  This  implies  that  in  choosing 
the  one,  the  other  has  to  be  rejected.  But  it  implies 
more :   it  implies  that    at   bottom  there  are   only  two 


vi.  14-vii.  I.]     NEW  TESTAMENT  PURITANISM  243 

kinds  of  people  in  the  world — those  who  identify  them- 
selves with  the  one  of  these  interests,  and  those  who 
identify  themselves  with  the  other. 

Now,   as  long  as  this  is  kept   in   an  abstract  form 
people  do  not  quarrel  with  it.     They  have  no  objection 
to  admit  that  good  and  evil  are  the  only  spiritual  forces 
in    the  world,  and  that    they  are    mutually  exclusive. 
But  many  will  not  admit  that  there  are  only  two  kinds 
of  persons  in  the  world,  answering  to  these  two  forces. 
They  would  rather  say  there  is  only  one  kind  of  persons, 
in  whom  these  forces  are  with  infinite  varieties  and  modi- 
fications combined.      This  seems  more  tolerant,  more 
humane,  more  capable  of  explaining  the  amazing  mix- 
tures and  inconsistencies  we  see  in  human  lives.     But 
it  is  not  more  true.     It  is  a  more  penetrating  insight 
which  judges   that   every  man — despite  his  range   of 
neutrality — would  in   the  last  resort  choose  his   side ; 
would,  in  short,  in  a  crisis  of  the  proper  kind,  prove 
finally  that  he  was  not  good  and  bad,  but  good  or  bad. 
We  cannot  pretend  to  judge  others,  but  sometimes  men 
udge   themselves,   and  always  God  can  judge.     And 
there  is  an  instinct  in  those  who  are  perfecting  holiness 
in   the  fear  of  God  which  tells  them,  without  in   the 
least  making  them  Pharisaical,  not  only  what  things, 
but  what  persons — not  only  what  ideas  and  practices, 
but  what   individual    characters — are   not  to  be  made 
friends  of.     It  is  no  pride,  or  scorn,  or  censoriousness, 
which  speaks  thus,  but  the  voice  of  all  Christian  experi- 
ence.    It  is  recognised  at  once  where  the  young  are 
concerned  :    people    are    careful    of   the    friends    their 
children  make,  and  a  schoolmaster  will  dismiss  inexor- 
ably, not  only  a  bad   habit,   but  a  bad  boy,  from,  the 
school.     It  ought  to  be    recognised  just  as  easily  in 
maturity  as  in  childhood  :  there  are  men  and  women, 


244     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

as  well  as  boys  and  girls,  who  distinctly  represent  evil, 
and  whose  society  is  to  be  declined.  To  protest  against 
them,  to  repel  them,  to  resent  their  life  and  conduct  as 
morally  offensive,  is  a  Christian  duty ;  it  is  the  first 
step  towards  evangelising  them. 

It  is  worth  noticing  in  the  passage  before  us  how  the 
Apostle,  starting  from  abstract  ideas,  descends,  as  he 
becomes  more  urgent,  into  personal  relations.  What 
fellowship  have  righteousness  and  lawlessness  ?  None. 
What  communion  has  light  with  darkness?  None. 
What  concord  has  Christ  with  Belial  ?  Here  the 
persons  come  in  who  are  the  heads,  or  representatives, 
of  the  opposing  moral  interests,  and  it  is  only  now  that 
we  feel  the  completeness  of  the  antagonism.  The 
interest  of  hoHness  is  gathered  up  in  Christ;  the 
interest  of  evil  in  the  great  adversary ;  and  they  have 
nothing  in  common.  And  so  with  the  believer  and  the 
unbeliever.  Of  course  there  is  ground  on  which  they 
can  meet :  the  same  sun  shines  on  them,  the  same  soil 
supports  them,  they  breathe  the  same  air.  But  in  all 
that  is  indicated  by  those  two  names — believer  and 
unbeliever — they  stand  quite  apart ;  and  the  distinction 
thus  indicated  reaches  deeper  than  any  bond  of  union. 
It  is  not  denied  that  the  unbeliever  may  have  much 
that  is  admirable  about  him ;  but  for  the  believer  the 
one  supremely  important  thing  in  the  world  is  that 
which  the  unbeliever  denies,  and  therefore  the  more  he 
is  in  earnest  the  less  can  he  afford  the  unbeliever's 
friendship.  We  need  all  the  help  we  can  get  to  fight 
the  good  fight  of  faith,  and  to  perfect  holiness  in  the 
fear  of  God ;  and  a  friend  whose  silence  numbs  faith, 
or  whose  words  trouble  it,  is  a  friend  no  earnest  Chris- 
tian dare  keep.  Words  like  these  would  not  seem  so 
hard  if  the  common  faith  of  Christians  were  felt  to  be 


vi.  14-vii.  I.]     NEIV  TESTAMENT  PURITANISM  245 

a  real  bond  of  union  among  them,  and  if  the  recoil  from 
the  unbelieving  world  were  seen  to  be  the  action  of  the 
whole  Christian  society,  the  instinct  of  self-preservation 
in  the  new  Christian  life.  But,  at  whatever  risk  of 
seeming  harsh,  it  must  be  repeated  that  there  has 
never  been  a  state  of  affairs  in  the  world  in  which  the 
commandment  had  no  meaning,  '*  Come  out  from  among 
them,  and  be  ye  separate  "  ;  nor  an  obedience  to  this 
commandment  which  did  not  involve  separation  fromj 
persons  as  w^ell  as  from  principles. 

(3)  But  what  bulks  most  largely  in  the  passage  is 
the  series  of  divine  promises  which  are  to  inspire  and 
sustain  obedience.  The  separations  which  an  earnest 
Christian  life  requires  are  not  without  their  compensa- 
tion ;  to  leave  the  world  is  to  be  welcomed  by  God.  It 
is  probable  that  the  pernicious  association  which  the 
writer  had  immediately  in  view  was  association  with 
the  heathen  in  their  worship,  or  at  least  in  their  sacri- 
ficial feasts.  At  all  events  it  is  the  inconsistency  of 
this  with  the  worship  of  the  true  God  that  forms  the 
climax  of  his  expostulation — What  agreement  hath  a 
temple  of  God  with  idols  ?  and  it  is  to  this,  again,  that 
the  encouraging  promises  are  attached.  *'  ^<?,"  says 
the  Apostle,  "are  a  temple  of  the  living  God."  This 
carries  with  it  all  that  he  has  claimed  :  for  a  temple 
means  a  house  in  which  God  dwells,  and  God  can  only 
dwell  in  a  holy  place.  Pagans  and  Jews  alike  recog- 
nised the  sanctity  of  their  temples  :  nothing  was  guarded 
more  jealously  ;  nothing,  if  violated,  was  more  promptly 
and  terribly  avenged.  Paul  had  seen  the  day  when  he 
gave  his  vote  to  shed  the  blood  of  a  man  who  had 
spoken  disrespectfully  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  and 
the  day  was  coming  when  he  himself  was  to  run  the 
risk  of  his  life  on  the  mere  suspicion  that  he  had  taken 


246     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

a  pagan  into  the  holy  place.  He  expects  Christians  to 
be  as  much  in  earnest  as  Jews  to  keep  the  sanctity  of 
God's  house  inviolate  ;  and  now,  he  says,  that  house 
are  we  :  it  is  ourselves  we  have  to  keep  unspotted  from 
the  world. 

We  are  God's  temple  in  accordance  with  the  central 
promise  of  the  old  covenant :  as  God  said,  "  I  will  dwell 
in  them  and  walk  in  them,  and  I  will  be  their  God,  and 
they  shall  be  My  people."  The  original  of  this  is 
Lev.  xxvi.  II,  12.  The  Apostle,  as  has  been  observed 
already,  takes  the  Old  Testament  words  in  a  New 
Testament  sense :  as  they  stand  here  in  Second 
Corinthians  they  mean  something  much  more  intimate 
and  profound  than  in  their  old  place  in  Leviticus.  But 
'  even  there,  he  tells  us,  they  are  a  promise  to  us.  What 
God  speaks.  He  speaks  to  His  people,  and  speaks  once 
for  all.  And  if  the  divine  presence  in  the  camp  of 
Israel — a  presence  represented  by  the  Ark  and  its 
tent — was  to  consecrate  that  nation  to  Jehovah,  and 
inspire  them  with  zeal  to  keep  the  camp  clean,  that 
nothing  might  offend  the  eyes  of  His  glory,  how  much 
more  ought  those  whom  God  has  visited  in  His  Son, 
those  in  whom  He  dwells  through  His  Spirit,  to  cleanse 
themselves  from  every  defilement,  and  make  their  souls 
fit  for  His  habitation  ?  After  repeating  the  charge  to 
come  out  and  be  separate,  the  writer  heaps  up  new 
promises,  in  which  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  various 
Old  Testament  passages  are  freely  combined.^  The 
principal  one  seems  to  be  2  Sam.  vii.,  which  contains 
the  promises  originally  made  to  Solomon.  At  ver.  14 
of  that  chapter  we  have  the  idea  of  the  paternal  and 


'  So  freely  that  Ewald  thinks  the  words  from  Kay  Co  ehde^o/xai  on- 
ward are  a  quotation  from  some  unknown  cource :  as,  e.g.,  Eph.  v.  14. 


vi.  14-vii.  1.]     NEW  TESTAMENT  PURITANISM  •    247 

filial  relation,  and  at  ver.  8  the  speaker  is  described  in 
the  LXX.,  as  here,  as  the  Lord  Almighty.  But  passages 
like  Jer.  xxxi.  i,  9,  also  doubtless  floated  through  the 
writer's  mind,  and  it  is  the  substance,  not  the  form, 
which  is  the  main  thing.  The  very  freedom  with  wliich 
they  are  reproduced  shows  us  how  thoroughly  the 
writer  is  at  home,  and  how  confident  he  is  that  he 
is  making  the  right  and  natural  application  of  these 
ancient  promises. 

Separate  yourselves,  for  you  are  God's  temple  : 
separate  yourselves,  and  you  will  be  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  the  Lord  Almighty,  and  He  will  be  your  Father. 
Hctc  una  ratio  instar  milk  esse  debet.  The  friendship 
of  the  world,  as  James  reminds  us,  is  enmity  with  God  ; 
it  is  the  consoling  side  of  the  same  truth  that  separa- 
tion from  the  world  means  friendship  with  God.  It 
does  not  mean  solitude,  but  a  more  blessed  society  ; 
not  renunciation  of  love,  but  admission  to  the  only  love 
which  satisfies  the  soul,  because  that  for  which  the  soul 
was  made.  The  Puritanism  of  the  New  Testament  is 
no  harsh,  repellent  thing,  which  eradicates  the  affections, 
and  makes  life  bleak  and  barren  ;  it  is  the  condition 
under  which  the  heart  is  opened  to  the  love  of  God, 
and  filled  with  all  comfort  and  joy  in  obedience.  With 
Him  on  our  side — with  the  promise  of  His  indwelling 
Spirit  to  sanctify  us,  of  His  fatherly  kindness  to  enrich 
and  protect  us — shall  we  not  obey  the  exhortation  to 
come  out  and  be  separate,  to  cleanse  ourselves  from  all 
that  defiles,  to  perfect  holiness  in  His  fear  ? 


XIX 

REPENTANCE   UNTO  LIFE 

"  Open  your  hearts  to  us  :  we  wronged  no  man,  we  corrupted  no 
man,  we  took  advantage  of  no  man.  I  say  it  not  to  condemn  ^om: 
for  I  have  said  before,  that  ye  are  in  our  hearts  to  die  together  and 
live  together.  Great  is  my  boldness  of  speech  toward  you,  great  is 
my  glorying  on  your  behalf :  I  am  filled  with  comfort,  I  overflow  with 
joy  in  all  our  affliction. 

"  For  even  when  we  were  come  into  Macedonia,  our  flesh  had  no 
relief,  but  we  were  afflicted  on  ever3^  side ;  without  were  fightings, 
within  were  fears.  Nevertheless  He  that  comforteth  the  lowl}^  even 
God,  comforted  us  by  the  coming  of  Titus;  and  not  by  his  coming 
onl3',  but  also  by  the  comfort  wherewith  he  was  comforted  in  you, 
while  he  told  us  your  longing,  your  mourning,  your  zeal  for  me  ;  so 
that  I  rejoiced  yet  more.  For  though  I  made  you  sorry  with  my 
epistle,  I  do  not  regret  it,  though  I  did  regret ;  for  I  see  that  that 
epistle  made  you  sorry,  though  but  for  a  season.  Now  I  rejoice, 
not  that  ye  were  made  sorry,  but  that  ye  were  made  sorry  unto 
repentance :  for  ye  were  made  sorry  after  a  godly  sort,  that  ye 
might  suffer  loss  by  us  in  nothing.  For  godly  sorrow  worketh  repent- 
ance unto  salvation,  a  repentance  which  bringeth  no  regret :  but 
the  sorrow  of  the  world  worketh  death.  For  behold,  this  selfsame 
thing,  that  ye  were  made  sorry  after  a  godly  sort,  what  earnest  care 
it  wrought  in  you,  yea,  what  clearing  of  yourselves,  yea,  what  indig- 
nation, yea,  what  fear,  yea,  what  longing,  yea,  what  zeal,  yea,  what 
avenging !  In  everything  ye  approved  yourselves  to  be  pure  in  the 
matter.  So  although  I  wrote* unto  you,  /  wrote  not  for  his  cause  that 
did  the  wrong,  nor  for  his  cause  that  suffered  the  wrong,  but  that 
yonr  earnest  care  for  us  might  be  made  manifest  unto  you  in  the  sight 
of  God.  Therefore  we  have  been  comforted  :  and  in  our  comfort  we 
joyed  the  more  exceedingly  for  the  joy  of  Titus,  because  his  spirit 
hath  been  refreshed  by  you  all.  For  if  in  anything  I  have  gloried  to 
him  on  your  behalf,  I  was  not  put  to  shame  ;  but  as  we  spake  all 
thin  s  to  you  in  truth,  so  our  glorying  also,  which  I  made  before 

248 


vii.  2-i6.]  REPENTANCE   UNTO  LIFE  249 

Titus,  was  found  to  be  truth.  And  his  inward  affection  is  more 
abundantly  toward  you,  whilst  he  remembcreth  the  obedience  of  you 
all,  how  with  fear  and  trembling  ye  received  him.  I  rejoice  that  in 
everything  I  am  of  good  courage  concerning  you." — 2  CoR.  vii.  2-16 
(R.V.). 

IN  this  fine  passage  St.  Paul  completes,  as  far  as  it 
lay  upon  his  side  to  do  so,  his  reconciliation  with 
the  Corinthians.  It  concludes  the  first  great  division 
of  his  Second  Epistle,  and  henceforth  we  hear  no  more 
of  the  sinner  censured  so  severely  in  the  First  (chap,  v.),^ 
or  of  the  troubles  which  arose  in  the  Church  over  the 
disciplinary  treatment  of  his  sin.  The  end  of  a  quarrel 
between  friends  is  like  the  passing  away  of  a  storm ; 
the  elements  are  meant  to  be  at  peace  with  each  other, 
and  nature  never  looks  so  lovely  as  in  the  clear  shining 
after  rain.  The  effusion  of  feeling  in  this  passage,  so 
affectionate  and  unreserved ;  the  sense  that  the  storm- 
clouds  have  no  more  than  left  the  sky,  yet  that  fair 
weather  has  begun,  make  it  conspicuously  beautiful  even 
in  the  writings  of  St.  Paul. 

He  begins  by  resuming  the  appeal  interrupted  at 
chap.  vi.  13.  He  has  charged  the  Corinthians  with  being 
straitened  in  their  own  affections  :  distrust  and  calumny 
have  narrowed  their  souls,  nay,  shut  them  against  him 
altogether.  "  Receive  us,"  he  exclaims  here — i.e.,  open 
your  hearts  to  us.  "  You  have  no  cause  to  be  reserved  : 
we  wronged  no  man,  ruined  no  man,  took  advantage 
of  no  man."  Such  charges  had  doubtless  been  made 
against  him.  The  point  of  the  last  is  clear  from  chap, 
xii.  16-18:  he  had  been  accused  of  making  money  out  of 
his  apostolic  work  among  them.  The  other  words  are 
less  precise,  especially  the  one  rendered  "  corrupted " 

*  But  see  on  chap.  ii.  5-II. 


250     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

{e(j)6eipaiJi€v),  which  should  perhaps  be  rather  explained, 
as  in  I  Cor.  iii.  17,  ''  destroyed."  Paul  has  not  wronged 
or  ruined  any  one  in  Corinth.  Of  course,  his  Gospel 
made  serious  demands  upon  people  :  it  insisted  on  readi- 
ness to  make  sacrifices,  and  on  actual  sacrifice  besides  ; 
it  proceeded  with  extreme  severity  against  sinners  like 
the  incestuous  man  ;  it  entailed  obligations,  as  we  shall 
presently  hear,  to  help  the  poor  even  of  distant  lands  ; 
and  then,  as  still,  such  claims  might  easily  be  resented 
as  ruinous  or  unjust.  St.  Paul  simply  denies  the 
charge.  He  does  not  retort  it ;  it  is  not  his  object  to 
condemn  those  whom  he  loves  so  utterly.  He  has  told 
them  already  that  they  are  in  his  heart  to  die  together 
and  to  live  together  (vi.  11) ;  and  when  this  is  so,  there 
is  no  place  for  recrimination  or  bandying  of  reproaches. 
He  is  full  of  confidence  in  them  ;  ^  he  can  freely  make 
his  boast  of  them.  He  has  had  afQiction  enough,  but 
over  it  all  he  has  been  filled  with  consolation  ;  even 
as  he  writes,  his  joy  overflows  (observe  the  present : 
vTrepTreptaaevo/jLai,). 

That  word — *'  ye  are  in  our  hearts  to  die  together  and 
to  live  together  " — is  the  key  to  all  that  follows.  It  has 
suffered  much  at  the  hands  of  grammarians,  for  whom  it 
has  undeniable  perplexities  ;  but  vehement  emotion  may 
be  permitted  to  be  in  some  degree  inarticulate,  and  we 
can  always  feel,  even  if  we  cannot  demonstrate,  what 
it  means.  "  Your  image  in  my  heart  accompanies  me 
in  death  and  life,"^  is  as  nearly  as  possible  what  the 
Apostle  says  ;  and  if  the  order  of  the  words  is  unusual 
— for  *'  life  "  would  naturally  stand  first — that  may  be  due 


'  This  is,  I  think,  the  only  possible  meaning  of  iroWrj  /xoi  irapprjaia  trpos 
v/xcis. 

^  So  Schmiedel. 


vii.2-i6.]  REPENTANCE   UNTO  LIFE  251 

to  the  fact,  so  largely  represented  in  chap,  iv.,  that  his 
life  was  a  series  of  deadly  perils,  and  of  ever-renewed 
deliverances  from  them,  a  daily  dying  and  a  daily 
resurrection,  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  which  the 
Corinthians  never  lost  their  place  in  his  heart.  More 
artificial  interpretations  only  obscure  the  intensity  of 
that  love  which  united  the  Apostle  to  his  converts.  It 
is  levelled  here,  unconsciously  no  doubt,  but  all  the  more 
impressively,  with  the  love  which  God  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord  bears  to  His  redeemed.  "  I  am  persuaded," 
St.  Paul  writes  to  the  Romans,  "  that  neither  death  nor 
life  can  separate  us  from  that."  "  You  may  be  assured," 
he  writes  here  to  the  Corinthians,  ^'  that  neither  death 
nor  life  can  separate  you  from  my  love."  The  reference 
of  death  and  life  is  of  course  different,  but  the  strength 
of  conviction  and  of  emotion  is  the  same  in  both  cases. 
St.  Paul's  heart  is  pledged  irrevocably  and  irreversibly 
to  the  Church.  In  the  deep  feeling  that  he  is  theirs, 
he  has  an  assurance  that  they  also  are  his.  The  love 
with  which  he  loves  them  is  bound  to  prevail ;  nay,  it 
has  prevailed,  and  he  can  hardly  find  words  to  express 
his  joy.  En  qiialitcr  affedos  esse  oniites  Pastores  con- 
veniat  (Calvin). 

The  next  three  verses  carry  us  back  to  chap.  ii.  1 2  ff., 
and  resume  the  story  which  was  interrupted  there  at 
ver.  14.  The  sudden  thanksgiving  of  that  passage — 
so  eager  and  impetuous  that  it  left  the  writer  no  time 
to  tell  what  he  was  thankful  for — is  explained  here. 
Titus,  whom  he  had  expected  to  see  in  Troas,  arrived 
at  length,  probably  at  Philippi,  and  brought  with  him 
the  most  cheering  news.  Paul  was  sadly  in  need  of 
it.  His  flesh  had  no  rest :  the  use  of  the  perfect 
{6a)(i)K6v)  almost  conveys  the  feeling  that  he  began  to 
write  whenever  he  got  the  news,  so  that  up  to  this 


252     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

moment  the  strain  had  continued.  The  fights  without 
were  probably  assaults  upon  himself,  or  the  Churches, 
of  the  nature  of  persecution ;  the  fears  within,  his 
anxieties  about  the  state  of  morals,  or  of  Gospel  truth, 
in  the  Christian  communities.  Outworn  and  depressed, 
burdened  both  in  body  and  mind  (cf.  the  expressions 
in  ii.  13  and  vii.  5),  he  was  suddenly  lifted  on  high 
by  the  arrival  and  the  news  of  Titus.  Here  again,  as 
in  ii.  14,  he  ascribes  all  to  God.  It  was  He  whose  very 
nature  it  is  to  comfort  the  lowly  who  so  graciously 
comforted  him.  Titus  apparently  had  gone  himself 
with  a  sad  and  apprehensive  heart  to  Corinth ;  he  had 
been  away  longer  than  he  had  anticipated,  and  in  the 
interval  St.  Paul's  anxiety  had  risen  to  anguish;  but  in 
Corinth  his  reception  had  been  unexpectedly  favourable, 
and  when  he  returned  he  was  able  to  console  his 
master  with  a  consolation  which  had  already  gladdened 
his  own  heart.  Paul  was  not  only  comforted,  his 
sorrow  was  turned  into  joy,  as  he  listened  to  Titus 
telling  of  the  longing  of  the  Corinthians  to  see  him, 
of  their  mourning  over  the  pain  they  had  given  him 
by  their  tolerance  for  such  irregularities  as  that  of  the 
incestuous  man  or  the  unknown  insulter  of  the  Apostle^ 
and  of  their  eagerness  to  satisfy  him  and  maintain  his 
authority.  The  word  "your"  {vfjLwv)  in  ver.  7  has  a 
certain  emphasis  which  suggests  a  contrast.  Before 
Titus  went  to  Corinth,  it  was  Paul  who  had  been 
anxious  to  see  them,  who  had  mourned  over  their 
immoral  laxity,  who  had  been  passionately  interested 
in  vindicating  the  character  of  the  Church  he  had 
founded ;  now  it  is  they  who  are  full  of  longing  to 
see  him,  of  grief,  and  of  moral  earnestness ;  and  it  is 
this  which  explains  his  joy.  The  conflict  between  the 
powers  of  good  in  one  great  and  passionate  soul,  and 


vii.2-i6.]  REPENTANCE   UNTO  LIFE  253 

the  powers  of  evil  in  a  lax  and  fickle  community,  has 
ended  in  favour  of  the  good ;  Paul's  vehemence  has 
prevailed  against  Corinthian  indifiercnce,  and  made  it 
vehement  also  in  all  good  affections,  and  he  rejoices 
now  in  the  joy  of  his  Lord. 

Then  comes  the  most  delicate  part  of  this  recon- 
ciliation (vv.  8-12).  It  is  a  good  rule  in  making  up 
disputes  to  let  bygones  be  bygones,  as  far  as  possible ; 
there  may  be  a  little  spark  hidden  here  and  there  under 
what  seem  dead  ashes,  and  there  is  no  gain  in  raking 
up  the  ashes,  and  giving  the  spark  a  chance  to  blaze 
apain.  But  this  is  a  good  rule  only  because  we  are 
bad  men,  and  because  reconciliation  is  seldom  allowed 
to  have  its  perfect  work.  We  feel,  and  say,  after  we 
have  quarrelled  with  a  person  and  been  reconciled,  that 
it  can  never  be  the  same  again.  But  this  ought  not 
to  be  so ;  and  if  we  were  perfect  in  love,  or  ardent  in 
love  at  all,  it  would  not  be  so.  If  we  were  in  one 
another's  hearts,  to  die  together  and  to  live  together, 
w^e  should  retrace  the  past  together  in  the  very  act  of 
being  reconciled  ;  and  all  its  misunderstandings  and 
bitterness  and  badness,  instead  of  lying  hidden  in  us 
as  matter  of  recrimination  for  some  other  day  when  we 
are  tempted,  would  add  to  the  sincerity,  the  tenderness, 
and  the  spirituality  of  our  love.  The  Apostle  sets  us 
an  example  here,  of  the  rarest  and  most  difficult  virtue, 
when  he  goes  back  upon  the  story  of  his  relations  with 
the  Corinthians,  and  makes  the  bitter  stock  yield  sweet 
and  wholesome  fruit.^ 


'  It  is  d.fficult  to  fix  either  the  text  or  the  punctuation  in  ver.  8, 
and  agreement  among  critics  is  quite  hopeless.  Practically  they  are 
at  one  in  omitting  the  yap  of  the  Received  Text  after  /SX^ttw  :  and 
Schmiedel  agrees  with  Lachmann  and  Westcott  and   Hort  that  the 


254     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO  THE  CORINTHIANS 

The  whole  result  is  in  his  mind  when  he  writes, 
"  Although  I  made  you  sorry  with  the  letter,  I  do  not 
regret  it."  The  letter  is,  on  the  simplest  hypothesis, 
the  First  Epistle ;  and  though  no  one  would  willingly 
speak  to  his  friends  as  Paul  in  some  parts  of  that 
Epistle  speaks  to  the  Corinthians,  he  cannot  pretend 
that  he  wishes  it  unwritten.  '*  Although  I  did  regret 
it,"  he  goes  on,  **  now  I  rejoice."  He  regretted  it,  we 
must  understand,  before  Titus  came  back  from  Corinth. 
In  that  melancholy  interval,  all  he  saw  was  that  the 
letter  made  them  sorry ;  it  was  bound  to  do  so,  even 
if  it  should  only  be  temporarily  ;  but  his  heart  smote 
him  for  making  them  sorry  at  all.  It  vexed  him  to 
vex  them.  No  doubt  this  is  the  plain  truth  he  is 
telling  them,  and  it  is  hard  to  see  why  it  should  have 
been  regarded  as  inconsistent  with  his  apostolic  inspira- 
tion. He  did  not  cease  to  have  a  living  soul  because 
he  was  inspired ;  and  if  in  his  despondency  it  crossed 
his  mind  to  say,  "  That  letter  will  only  grieve  them," 
he  must  have  said  in  the  same  instant,  "  I  wish  I  had 
never  written  it."  But  both  impulses  were  momentary 
only ;  he  has  heard  now  the  whole  effect  of  his  letter, 
and  rejoices  that  he  wrote  it.  Not,  of  course,  that  they 
were  made  sorry — no  one  could  rejoice  for  that- — but 
that  they  were  made  sorry  to  repentance.  "  For  ye 
were  made  sorry  according  to  God,  that  in  nothing  ye 
might  suffer  loss  on  our  part.  For  sorrow  according 
to  God  worketh  repentance  unto  salvation,  a  repentance 


original  reading  was  probably  ^Xewoiv.  The  R.V.  has  the  same 
punctuation  as  the  A.V.,  which  probably  means  that  the  Revisers 
could  not  get  a  sufficient  majority  to  change  it,  not  that  it  is  quite 
satisfactory  as  it  stands.  It  certainly  seems  better  to  connect  el  koI 
fi€T€/j.€\6fir}v  with  what  follows  (vdu  x^-'P'^)  *^han  with  what  precedes ; 
but  the  sense  is  not  affected. 


vii.2-i6.]  REPENTANCE  UNTO  LIFE  255 

which  bringeth  no  regret.      But  the  sorrow  of  the  world 
workcth  death." 

Most  people  define  repentance  as  a  kind  of  sorrow, 
but  this  is  not  exactly  St.  Paul's  view  here.  There 
is  a  kind  of  sorrow,  he  intimates,  which  issues  in 
repentance,  but  repentance  itself  is  not  so  much  an 
emotional  as  a  spiritual  change.  The  sorrow  which 
ends  in  it  is  a  blessed  experience  ;  the  sorrow  which 
does  not  end  in  it  is  the  most  tragical  waste  of  which 
human  nature  is  capable.  The  Corinthians,  we  are 
told,  were  made  sorry,  or  grieved,  according  to  God. 
Their  sorrow  had  respect  to  Him  :  when  the  Apostle's 
letter  pricked  their  hearts,  they  became  conscious  of 
that  which  they  had  forgotten — God's  relation  to  them, 
and  His  judgment  on  their  conduct.  It  is  this  element 
which  makes  any  sorrow  '*  godly,"  and  without  this, 
sorrow  does  not  look  towards  repentance  at  all.  All 
sins  sooner  or  later  bring  the  sense  of  loss  with  them ; 
but  the  sense  of  loss  is  not  repentance.  It  is  not 
repentance  when  we  discover  that  our  sin  has  found 
us  out,  and  has  put  the  things  we  most  coveted  beyond 
our  reach.  It  is  not  repentance  when  the  man  who 
has  sown  his  wild  oats  is  compelled  in  bitterness  of 
soul  to  reap  what  he  has  sown.  It  is  not  a  sorrow 
according  to  God  when  our  sin  is  summed  up  for 
us  in  the  pain  it  inflicts  upon  ourselves — in  our  own 
loss,  our  own  defeat,  our  own  humiliation,  our  own 
exposure,  our  own  unavailing  regret.  These  are  not 
healing,  but  embittering.  The  sorrow  according  to  God 
is  that  in  which  the  sinner  is  conscious  of  his  sin  in 
relation  to  the  Holy  One,  and  feels  that  its  inmost 
soul  of  pain  and  guilt  is  this,  that  he  has  fallen  away 
from  the  grace  and  friendship  of  God.  He  has 
wounded  a  love  to  which  he  is  dearer  than   he  is  to 


256     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

himself:  to  know  this  is  really  to  grieve,  and  that 
not  with  a  self-consuming,  but  with  a  healing,  hope- 
ful sorrow.  It  was  such  a  sorrow  to  which  Paul's 
letter  gave  rise  at  Corinth  :  it  is  such  a  sorrow  which 
issues  in  repentance,  that  complete  change  of  spiritual 
attitude  which  ends  in  salvation,  and  need  never  be 
regretted.  Anything  else — the  sorrow,  e.g.,  which  is 
bounded  by  the  selfish  interests  of  the  sinner,  and  is 
not  due  to  his  sinful  act,  but  only  to  its  painful  conse- 
quences— is  the  sorrow  of  the  world.  It  is  such  as 
men  feel  in  that  realm  of  life  in  which  no  account 
is  taken  of  God  ;  it  is  such  as  weakens  and  breaks 
the  spirit,  or  embitters  and  hardens  it,  turning  it  now 
to  defiance  and  now  to  despair,  but  never  to  God, 
and  penitent  hope  in  Him.  It  is  in  this  way  that 
it  works  death.  If  death  is  to  be  defined  at  all,  it 
must  be  by  contrast  with  salvation  :  the  grief  which 
has  not  God  as  its  rule  can  only  exhaust  the  soul, 
wither  up  its  faculties,  blight  its  hopes,  extinguish  and 
deaden  all. 

St.  Paul  can  point  to  the  experience  of  the  Corin- 
thians themselves  as  furnishing  a  demonstration  of 
these  truths.  *'  Consider  your  own  godly  sorrow,"  he 
seems  to  say,  ^'  and  what  blessed  fruits  it  bore.  What 
earnest  care  it  wrought  in  you  I  how  eager  became 
your  interest  in  a  situation  to  which  you  had  once 
been  sinfully  indifferent !  "  But  '*  earnest  care  "  is  not 
all.  On  the  contrary  (aXka)y  Paul  expands  it  into  a 
whole  series  of  acts  or  dispositions,  all  of  which  are 
inspired  by  that  sorrow  according  to  God.  When  they 
thought  of  the  infamy  which  sin  had  brought  upon  the 
Church,  they  were  eager  to  clear  themselves  of  com- 
plicity in  it  {cLTToXoylav),  and  angry  with  themselves 
that   they    had    ever    allowed    such    a    thing   to    be 


vii.2-i6.]  REPENTANCE   UNTO  LIFE  257 

(dyavuKTijaiu)  ;  when  they  thought  of  the  Apostle, 
they  feared  lest  he  should  come  to  them  with  a  rod 
(</)o/3oi^),  and  yet  their  hearts  went  out  in  longing 
desires  to  see  him  (eTniroOrjcTiv) ;  when  they  thought 
of  the  man  whose  sin  was  at  the  bottom  of  all  this 
trouble,  they  were  full  of  moral  earnestness,  which 
made  lax  dealing  with  him  impossible  (^rjXov),  and 
compelled  them  to  punish  his  offence  (eKBUrjacv).  In 
every  way  they  made  it  evident  that,  in  spite  of  early 
appearances,  they  were  really  pure  in  the  matter. 
They  were  not,  after  all,  making  themselves  partakers, 
by  condoning  it,  of  the  bad  man's  offence. 

A  popular  criticism  disparages  repentance,  and  especi- 
ally the  sorrow  which  leads  to  repentance,  as  a  mere 
waste  of  moral  force.  We  have  nothing  to  throw  away, 
the  severely  practical  morahst  tells  us,  in  sighs  and 
tears  and  feelings  :  let  us  be  up  and  doing,  to  rectify 
the  wrongs  for  which  we  are  responsible ;  that  is  the 
only  repentance  which  is  worth  the  name.  This  passage, 
and  the  experience  which  it  depicts,  are  the  answer  to 
such  precipitate  criticism.  The  descent  into  our  own 
hearts,  the  painful  self-scrutiny  and  self-condemnation, 
the  sorrowing  according  to  God,  are  not  waste  of  moral 
force.  Rather  are  they  the  only  possible  way  to 
accumulate  moral  force ;  they  apply  to  the  soul  the 
pressure  under  which  it  manifests  those  potent  virtues 
which  St.  Paul  here  ascribes  to  the  Corinthians.  All 
sorrow,  indeed,  as  he  is  careful  to  tell  us,  is  not  repent- 
ance; but  he  who  has  no  sorrow  for  his  sin  has  not 
the  force  in  him  to  produce  earnest  care,  fear,  longing, 
zeal,  avenging.  The  fruit,  of  course,  is  that  for  which 
the  tree  is  cultivated ;  but  who  would  magnify  the  fruit 
by  disparaging  the  sap  ?  That  is  what  they  do  who 
decry  "  godly  sorrow  "  to  exalt  practical  amendment. 

17 


258     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

With  this  reference  to  the  effect  of  his  letter  upon 
them,  the  Apostle  virtually  completes  his  reconciliation 
to  the  Corinthians.  He  chooses  to  consider  the  effect 
of  his  letter  as  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  written, 
and  this  enables  him  to  dismiss  what  had  been  a  very 
painful  subject  with  a  turn  as  felicitous  as  it  is  affection- 
ate. *'  So  then,  though  I  did  write  to  you,  it  was  not 
for  his  sake  who  did  the  wrong  [the  sinner  of  I  Cor. 
v.],  nor  for  his  who  had  it  done  to  him  [his  father]  ^ ; 
but  that  you  yourselves  might  become  conscious  of 
your  earnest  care  of  our  interests  in  the  sight  of  God." 
Awkward  as  some  of  the  situations  had  been,  all  that 
remained,  so  far  as  the  Apostle  and  the  Corinthians 
were  concerned,  was  this :  they  knew  better  than 
before  how  deeply  they  were  attached  to  him,  and  how 
much  they  would  do  for  his  sake.  He  chooses,  as  I 
have  said,  to  regard  this  last  result  of  his  writing  as 
the  purpose  for  which  he  wrote ;  and  when  he  ends  the 
twelfth  verse  with  the  words,  "  For  this  cause,  we  have 
been  comforted,"  ^  it  is  as  if  he  said,  "  I  have  got  what 
I  wanted  now,  and  am  content." 

But  content  is  far  too  weak  a  word.  Paul  had  heard 
all  this  good  news  from  Titus,  and  the  comfort  which 
it  gave  him  was  exalted  into  abounding  joy  when  he 
saw  how  the  visit  to  Corinth  had  gladdened  and 
refreshed  the  spirit  of  his  friend.  Evidently  Titus 
had  accepted  Paul's  commission  with  misgivings :  pos- 
sibly Timothy,  who  had  been  earlier  enlisted  for  the 
same  service  (i  Cor.  xvi.   lo),  had  found  his  courage 


•  But  see  on  chap.  ii.  5-1 1. 

'  This  is  the  true  text.  Instead  of  eirl  ry  irapaKK'qcei  in  ver.  13  all 
critical  editions  read  iirl  5^  rg  tt.,  and  make  these  words  begin  a 
new  paragraph. 


vii.2-i6.]  REPENTANCE   UNTO  LIFE  259 

fail   him,    and    withdrawn.     At    all    events,    Paul    had 
spoken  encouragingly  to  Titus  of  the  Corinthians  before 
he  started;  as  he  puts  it  in  ver.    14,  he  had  boasted 
somewhat  to  him  on  their  account ;  and  he  is  delighted 
that  their  reception  of  Titus  has  shown  that  his  confi- 
dence was  justified.     He  cannot  refrain  here  from  a 
passing  allusion  to  the  charges  of  prevarication  discussed 
in  the  first  chapter  ;  he  not  only  tells  the  truth  about 
them  (as  Titus  has  seen),  but  he  has  always  told  the 
truth  to  them.     These  verses  present  the  character  of 
Paul  in  an    admirable   light :    not  only  his  sympathy 
with    Titus,    but    his   attitude    to    the    Corinthians,    is 
beautifully  Christian.     What  in  most  cases  of  estrange- 
ment makes  reconciliation  hard  is  that  the  estranged 
have  allowed  themselves    to  speak  of  each    other   to 
outsiders  in  a  way  that  cannot  be  forgotten  or  got  over. 
But   even    when    the    tension   between    Paul    and    the 
Corinthians  was  at  its  height,  he  boasted  of  them  to 
Titus.     His  love   to   them  was    so  real    that  nothing 
could  blind  him  to  their  good  qualities.     He  could  say 
severe  things  to  them,  but  he  would  never  disparage 
or  malign  them  to  other  people ;  and  if  we  wish  friend- 
ships  to    last,   and  to  stand  the  strains  to  which  all 
human    ties  are  occasionally  subject,   we  must   never 
forget  this  rule.     "  Boast  somewhat,"  even  of  the  man 
who  has  wronged  you,   if  you   possibly  can.     If  you 
have  ever  loved  him,  you  certainly  can,  and  it  makes 
reconciliation  easy. 

The  last  results  of  the  painful  friction  between  Paul 
and  the  Corinthians  were  peculiarly  happy.  The 
Apostle's  confidence  in  them  was  completely  restored, 
and  they  had  completely  won  the  heart  of  Titus.  "  His 
affections  are  more  abundantly  toward  you,  as  he 
remembers  the  obedience  of  you  all,  how  with  fear  and 


26o     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 


trembling  ye  received  him."     "  Fear  and  trembling  "  is 
an   expression    which    St.    Paul    uses    elsewhere,    and 
which  is  liable  to  be  misunderstood.     It  does  not  sug- 
gest panic,  but  an   anxious   scrupulous  desire   not  to 
be  wanting  to  one's  duty,  or  to  do  less  than  one  ought 
to    do.     ''Work    out    your    salvation    with    fear    and 
trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you,"  does  not 
mean  '*  Do  it  in  a  constant  state  of  agitation  or  alarm," 
but  "  Work  on  with  this  resource  behind  you,  in  the 
same  spirit  with  which  a  young  man  of  character  would 
work,  who  was  starting  in  business  on  capital  advanced 
by  a  friend."     He  would  proceed,  or  ought  to  proceed, 
with  fear  and  trembling,  not  of  the  sort  which  paralyse 
intelligence    and    energy,  but    of  the    sort  which  per- 
emptorily preclude  slackness  or  failure  in  duty.     This 
is  the  meaning  here  also.     The  Corinthians  were  not 
frightened  for  Paul's   deputy,  but  they  welcomed  him 
with  an   anxious  conscientious  desire   to  do  the  very 
utmost  that  duty  and  love  could  require.     This,  says 
Calvin,  is  the  true  way  to  receive  ministers  of  Christ : 
and  it  is  this  only  which  will  gladden  a  true  minister's 
heart.     Sometimes,  with  the    most  innocent  intention, 
the   whole    situation    is    changed,    and   the    minister, 
though  received  with  the  utmost  courtesy  and  kindness, 
is  not  received  with  fear  and  trembling  at  all.     Partly 
through  his  own   fault,  and  partly  through    the  fault 
of  others,  he  ceases  to  be  the  representative  of  any- 
thing that  inspires  reverence,  or  excites  to  conscientious 
earnestness  of  conduct.     If,  under  these  circumstances, 
he  continues  to  be  kindly  treated,  he  is  apt  to  end  in 
being,  not  the  pastor,  but  the  pet  lamb  of  his  flock.     In 
apostolic  times  there  was  no  danger  of  this,  but  modern 
ministers   and  modern    congregations  have  sometimes 
thrown    away    all    the   possibilities   of    good   in    their 


VU.2-I6.]  REPENTANCE   UNTO  LIFE  261 

mutual  relations  by  disregarding  it.  The  affection 
which  they  ought  to  have  to  each  other  is  Christian, 
not  merely  natural ;  controlled  by  spiritual  ideas  and 
purposes,  and  not  a  matter  of  ordinary  good  feeling ; 
and  where  this  is  forgotten,  all  is  lost. 


XX 

THE    GRACE    OF   LIBERALITY 

"  Moreover,  brethren,  we  make  known  to  you  the  grace  of  God 
which  hath  been  given  in  the  Churches  of  Macedonia  ;  how  that  in 
much  proof  of  affliction  the  abundance  of  their  joy  and  their  deep 
poverty  abounded  unto  the  riches  of  their  liberality.  For  according 
to  their  power,  I  bear  witness,  yea  and  beyond  their  power,  they  gave 
of  their  own  accord,  beseeching  us  with  much  intreaty  in  regard  of 
this  grace  and  the  fellowship  in  the  ministering  to  the  saints  :  and 
this,  not  as  we  had  hoped,  but  first  they  gave  their  own  selves  to  the 
Lord,  and  to  us  by  the  will  of  God.  Insomuch  that  we  exhorted 
Titus,  that  as  he  had  made  a  beginning  before,  so  he  would  also  com- 
plete in  you  this  grace  also.  But  as  ye  abound  in  everything,  in  faith, 
and  utterance,  and  knowledge,  and  in  all  earnestness,  and  in  your 
love  to  us,  see  that  ye  abound  in  this  grace  also.  I  speak  not  by  the 
way  of  commandment,  but  as  proving  through  the  earnestness  of  others 
the  sincerity  also  of  your  love.  For  ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that,  though  He  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  He  became 
poor,  that  ye  through  His  poverty  might  become  rich.  And  herein 
I  give  my  judgment :  for  this  is  expedient  for  you,  who  were  the  first 
to  make  a  beginning  a  j^ear  ago,  not  only  to  do,  but  also  to  will.  But 
now  complete  the  doing  also ;  that  as  there  was  the  readiness  to  will, 
so  there  may  be  the  completion  also  out  of  your  ability.  For  if  the 
readiness  is  there,  it  is  acceptable  according  as  a  man  hath,  not 
according  as  he  hath  not.  For  /  say  not  this,  that  others  may  be 
eased,  and  ye  distressed  :  but  by  equality ;  your  abundance  being  a 
supply  at  this  present  time  for  their  want,  that  their  abundance  also 
may  become  a  supply  for  your  want ;  that  there  may  be  equality  :  as 
it  is  written,  He  that  gathered  much  had  nothing  over ;  and  he  that 
gathered  little  had  no  lack." — 2  Cor.  viii.  1-15  (R.V.). 

WITH  the  eighth  chapter  begins  the  second  of  the 
three  great  divisions  of  this  Epistle.     It  is  con- 
cerned exclusively  with  the  collection  which  the  Apostle 

262 


viii.  1-15.]  THE  GRACE  OF  LIBERALITY  263 

was  raising  in  all  the  Gentile  Christian  communities 
for  the  poor  of  the  Mother  Church  at  Jerusalem.  This 
collection  had  great  importance  in  his  eyes,  for  various 
reasons  :  it  was  the  fulfilment  of  his  undertaking,  to  the 
original  Apostles,  to  remember  the  poor  (Gal.  ii.  10) ; 
and  it  was  a  testimony  to  the  saints  in  Palestine  of  the 
love  of  the  Gentile  brethren  in  Christ.  The  fact  that 
Paul  interested  himself  so  much  in  this  collection, 
destined  as  it  was  for  Jerusalem,  proves  that  he  distin- 
guished broadly  between  the  primitive  Church  and  its 
authorities  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Jewish  emissaries 
whom  he  treats  so  unsparingly  in  chaps,  x.  and  xi.  on 
the  other. 

Money  is  usually  a  delicate  topic  to  handle  in  the 
Church,  and  we  may  count  ourselves  happy  in  having 
two  chapters  from  the  pen  of  St.  Paul  in  which  he 
treats  at  large  of  a  collection.  We  see  the  mind  of 
Christ  applied  in  them  to  a  subject  which  is  always 
with  us,  and  sometimes  embarrassing ;  and  if  there 
are  traces  here  and  there  that  embarrassment  was  felt 
even  by  the  Apostle,  they  only  show  more  clearly 
the  wonderful  wealth  of  thought  and  feeling  which  he 
could  bring  to  bear  on  an  ungrateful  theme.  Consider 
only  the  variety  of  lights  in  which  he  puts  it,  and  all  of 
them  ideal.  "  Money,"  as  such,  has  no  character,  and 
so  he  never  mentions  it.  But  he  calls  the  thing  which 
he  wants  a  grace  (%«/3i9),  a  service  {hiaKovla),  a  com- 
munion in  service  (kolvcovlo),  a  munificence  (dBpoTT]^;), 
a  blessing  (evXoyia),  a  manifestation  of  love.  The 
whole  resources  of  Christian  imagination  are  spent  in 
transfiguring,  and  lifting  into  a  spiritual  atmosphere, 
a  subject  on  which  even  Christian  men  are  apt  to 
be  materialistic.  We  do  not  need  to  be  h3'pocritical 
when    we    speak    about   money   in    the    Church ;    but 


264     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

both  the  charity  and  the  business  of  the  Church 
must  be  transacted  as  Christian,  and  not  as  secular, 
affairs. 

Paul  introduces  the  new  topic  with  his  usual  felicity. 
He  has  got  through  some  rough  water  in  the  first  seven 
chapters,  but  ends  with  expressions  of  joy  and  satisfac- 
tion. When  he  goes  on  in  the  eighth  chapter,  it  is  in 
the  same  cheerful  key.  It  is  as  though  he  said  to  the 
Corinthians:  "You  have  made  me  very  happy,  and 
now  I  must  tell  you  what  a  happy  experience  I  have 
had  in  Macedonia.  The  grace  of  God  has  been 
poured  out  on  the  Churches,  and  they  have  given 
Vv^ith  incredible  liberality  to  the  collection  for  the 
Jewish  poor.  It  so  moved  me  that  I  begged  Titus, 
who  had  already  made  some  arrangements  in  con- 
nexion with  this  matter  among  you,  to  return  and 
complete  the  work." 

Speaking  broadly,  the  Apostle  invites  the  Corinthians 
to  look  at  the  subject  through  three  media:  (i)  the 
example  of  the  Macedonians  ;  (2)  the  example  of  the 
Lord ;  and  (3)  the  laws  by  which  God  estimates 
liberality. 

(i)  The  liberality  of  the  Macedonians  is  described  as 
"  the  grace  of  God  given  in  the  Churches."  This  is  the 
aspect  of  it  which  conditions  every  other ;  it  is  not  the 
native  growth  of  the  soul,  but  a  divine  gift  for  which 
God  is  to  be  thanked.  Praise  Him  when  hearts  are 
opened,  and  generosity  shown ;  for  it  is  His  work. 
In  Macedonia  this  grace  was  set  off  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  people.  Their  Christian  character  was 
put  to  the  severe  proof  of  a  great  affliction  (see  i  Thess. 
ii.  14  f.) ;  they  were  themselves  in  deep  poverty ;  but 
their  joy  abounded  nevertheless  (i  Thess.  i.  6),  and 
joy  and  poverty  together  poured  out  a  rich  stream  of 


viii.  1-15.]  THE  GRACE  OF  LIBERALITY  265 

liberality.^  This  may  sound  paradoxical,  but  paradox 
is  normal  here.  Strange  to  say,  it  is  not  those  to 
whom  the  Gospel  conies  easily,  and  on  whom  it  imposes 
little,  who  are  most  generous  in  its  cause.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  is  those  who  have  suffered  for  it,  those  who 
have  lost  by  it,  who  are  as  a  rule  most  open-handed.  1 
Comfort  makes  men  selfish,  even  though  they  are  [ 
Christian  ;  but  if  they  are  Christian,  affliction,  even 
to  the  spoiling  of  their  goods,  teaches  them  generosity. 
The  first  generation  of  Methodists  in  England — the 
men  who  in  1843  fought  the  good  fight  of  the  faith  in 
Scotland — illustrate  this  law ;  in  much  proof  of  afflic- 
tion, it  might  be  said  of  them  also,  the  abundance  of 
their  joy,  and  their  deep  poverty,  abounded  unto  the 
riches  of  their  liberality.  Paul  was  almost  embarrassed 
with  the  liberality  of  the  Macedonians.  When  he 
looked  at  their  poverty,  he  did  not  hope  for  much 
(ver.  5).  He  would  not  have  felt  justified  in  urging 
people  who  were  themselves  in  such  distress  to  do 
much  for  the  relief  of  others.  But  they  did  not  need 
urging  :  it  was  they  who  urged  him.  The  Apostle's 
sentence  breaks  down  as  he  tries  to  convey  an  adequate 
impression  of  their  eagerness  (ver.  4),  and  he  has  to 
leave  off  and  begin  again  (ver.  5).  To  their  power,  he 
bears  witness,  yes  and  beyond  their  power,  they  gave 
of  their  own  accord.  They  importuned  him  to  bestow 
on  them  also  the  favour  of  sharing  in  this  service  to  the 
saints.  And  when  their  request  was  granted,  it  was  no 
paltry  contribution  that  they  made ;  they  gave  them- 
selves to  the  Lord,  to  begin  with,  and  to  the  Apostle, 

'  'A7rX6T7;s  is  literally  simplicity  or  singleness  of  heart,  the  disposi- 
tion which,  when  it  gives,  docs  so  without  arriere-pensee:  in  point 
of  fact  this  is  identical  with  the  liberal  or  generous  disposition.  Cf. 
chap.  ix.  II,  13  ;  Rom.  xii.  8;  James  i.  5. 


266     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO  THE  CORINTHIANS 

as  His  agent  in  the  transaction,  by  the  will  of  God. 
The  last  words  resume,  in  effect,  those  with  which 
St.  Paul  introduced  this  topic  :  it  was  God's  doing,  the 
working  of  His  will  on  their  wills,  that  the  Macedonians 
behaved  as  they  did.  I  cannot  think  the  English  version 
is  right  in  the  rendering :  "  And  this,  not  as  we  had 
hoped,  but  first  they  gave  their  own  selves  to  the 
Lord."  This  inevitably  suggests  that  afterwards  they 
gave  something  else — viz.,  their  subscriptions.  But 
this  is  a  false  contrast,  and  gives  the  word  ''  first " 
(irpctiTov)  a  false  emphasis,  which  it  has  not  in  the 
original.  What  St.  Paul  says  is  virtually  this  :  ''  We 
expected  little  from  people  so  poor,  but  by  God's  will 
they  literally  put  themselves  at  the  service  of  the  Lord, 
in  the  first  instance,  and  of  us  as  His  administrators. 
They  said  to  us,  to  our  amazement  and  joy,  ^  We  are 
Christ's,  and  yours  after  Him,  to  command  in  this 
matter.' "  This  is  one  of  the  finest  and  most  inspir- 
ing experiences  that  a  Christian  minister  can  have,  and, 
God  be  thanked,  it  is  none  of  the  rarest.  Many  a 
man  besides  Paul  has  been  startled  and  ashamed  by 
the  liberality  of  those  from  whom  he  would  not  have 
ventured  to  beg.  Many  a  man  has  been  importuned 
to  take  what  he  could  not  have  dared  to  ask.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  refuse  such  generosity,  to  decline  it  as  too 
much ;  it  gladdens  God,  and  revives  the  heart  of  man. 
It  is  a  mistake  to  deprive  the  poorest  of  the  opportunity 
of  offering  this  sacrifice  of  praise ;  it  is  the  poorest  in 
whom  it  has  most  munificence,  and  to  whom  it  brings 
the  deepest  joy.  Rather  ought  we  to  open  our  hearts 
to  the  impression  of  it,  as  to  the  working  of  God's 
grace,  and  rouse  our  own  selfishness  to  do  something 
not  less  w^orthy  of  Christ's  love. 

This  was  the  application  which  St.  Paul  made  of  the 


viii.  I-I5.]  THE  GRACE  OF  LIBERALITY  267 

generosity  of  the  Macedonians.  Under  the  impression 
of  it  he  exhorted  Titus,  who  on  a  previous  occasion  ^  had 
made  some  preHminary  arrangements  about  the  matter 
in  Corinth,  to  return  thither  and  complete  the  work. 
He  had  other  things  also  to  complete,  but  '*  this  grace  " 
was  to  be  specially  included  (/cat  rrjv  xdpLv  Tavrrjv). 
Perhaps  one  may  see  a  gentle  irony  in  the  tone  of 
ver.  7.  "  Enough  of  argument,"  the  Apostle  says  :  ^  ''  let 
Christians  distinguished  as  you  are  in  every  respect — 
in  faith  and  eloquence  and  knowledge  and  all  sorts  of 
zeal,  and  in  the  love  that  comes  from  you  and  abides 
in  us — see  that  they  are  distinguished  in  this  grace 
also."  It  is  a  real  character  that  is  suggested  here  by 
way  of  contrast,  but  not  exactly  a  lovely  one  :  the  man 
who  abounds  in  spiritual  interests,  who  is  fervent, 
pra3^erfu],  affectionate,  able  to  speak  in  the  Church,  but 
unable  to  part  with  money. 

(2)  This  brings  the  Apostle  to  his  second  point,  the 
example  of  the  Lord.  **  I  do  not  speak  by  way  of  com- 
mandment," he  says,  "  in  urging  you  to  be  liberal ;  I  am 
only  taking  occasion,  through  the  earnestness  of  others, 
to  put  the  sincerity  of  your  love  to  the  proof.  If  you 
truly  love  the  brethren  you  will  not  grudge  to  help 
them  in  their  distress.  The  Macedonians,  of  course, 
are  no  law  for  you ;  and  though  it  was  from  them  I 
started,  I  do  not  need  to  urge  their  example ;  '  for  ye 
know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that,  though 
He  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  He  became  poor,  that 
ye  through  His  poverty  might  become  rich.' "  This  is 
the  one  pattern  that  stands  for  ever  before  the  eyes  of 

'  Previous  to  his  recent  visit?  So  Schmiedel.  Or  simply  =  for- 
merly ? 

-  This,  according  to  Hermann  (quoted  by  Meyer),  is  often  the  force 
of  aXKa,  which  is  certainly  a  surprising  word  here. 


268     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

Christian  men,  the  fountain  of  an  inspiration  as  strong 
and  pure  to-day  as  when  Paul  wrote  these  words. 

Read  simply,  and  by  one  who  has  the  Christian 
creed  in  his  mind,  the  words  do  not  appear  ambiguous. 
Christ  was  rich,  they  tell  us ;  He  became  poor  for  our 
sakes,  and  by  His  poverty  we  become  rich.  If  a  com- 
mentary is  needed,  it  is  surely  to  be  sought  in  the 
parallel  passage  Phil.  ii.  5  ff.  The  rich  Christ  is  the 
pre-existent  One,  in  the  form  of  God,  in  the  glory 
which  He  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was  ; 
He  became  poor  when  He  became  man.  The  poor 
men  are  those  whose  lot  Christ  came  to  share,  and  in 
consequence  of  that  self-impoverishment  of  His  they 
become  heirs  of  a  kingdom.  It  is  not  necessary,  indeed 
it  is  utterly  misleading,  to  ask  curiously  how  Christ 
became  poor,  or  what  kind  of  experience  it  was  for 
Him  when  He  exchanged  heaven  for  earth,  and  the 
form  of  God  for  the  form  of  a  servant.  As  Mr.  Gore 
has  well  said,  it  is  not  the  metaphysics  of  the  Incarna- 
tion that  St.  Paul  is  concerned  with,  either  here  or  in 
Philippians,  but  its  ethics.  We  may  never  have  a 
scientific  key  to  it,  but  we  have  a  moral  key.  If  we 
do  not  comprehend  its  method,  at  least  we  comprehend 
its  motive,  and  it  is  in  its  motive  that  the  inspiration 
of  it  lies.  We  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ; 
and  it  comes  home  to  our  hearts  when  the  Apostle 
says,  "  Let  that  mmd—ihs.t  moral  temper — be  in  you 
which  was  also  in  Him."  Ordinary  charity  is  but  the 
crumbs  from  the  rich  man's  table;  but  if  we  catch 
Christ's  spirit,  it  will  carry  us  far  be3^ond  that.  He 
was  rich,  and  gave  up  all  for  our  sakes ;  it  is  no  less 
than  poverty  on  His  part  which  enriches  us. 

The  older  theologians,  especially  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  read  this  great  text  differently,  and  their  opinion 


viii.  1-151  TtiP^   GRACE  OF  LIBERALirY  269 

is  not  yet  quite  extinct.  They  referred  iTTTcox^'vaeu, 
not  to  Christ's  entrance  on  the  incarnate  state,  but  to 
His  existence  in  it;'  they  puzzled  themselves  to  con- 
ceive of  Him  as  rich  and  poor  at  the  same  time ;  and 
they  quite  took  the  point  from  St.  Paul's  exhortation  by 
making  eind)')(evaev  7rXovato<i  wv  describe  a  combination, 
instead  of  an  interchange,  of  states.  It  is  a  counsel 
of  despair  when  a  recent  commentator  (Heinrici), 
sympathising  with  this  view,  but  yielding  to  the  com- 
parison of  Phil.  ii.  5  ff.,  tries  to  unite  the  two  interpre- 
tations, and  to  make  eTrrcoxevaeu  cover  both  the  coming 
to  earth  from  heaven  and  the  life  in  poverty  on  earth. 
No  word  can  mean  two  different  things  at  the  same 
time  :  and  in  this  daring  attempt  we  may  fairly  see  a 
final  surrender  of  the  orthodox  Lutheran  interpretation. 
Some  strange  criticisms  have  been  passed  on  this 
appeal  to  the  Incarnation  as  a  motive  to  liberality.  It 
shows,  Schmiedel  says,  Paul's  contempt  for  the  know- 
ledge of  Christ  after  the  flesh,  when  the  Incarnation  is 
all  he  can  adduce  as  a  pattern  for  such  a  simply  human 
thing  as  a  charitable  gift.  The  same  contempt,  then, 
we  must  presume,  is  shown  in  Philippians,  when  the 
same  great  pattern  is  held  up  to  inspire  Christians  with 
lowly  thoughts  of  themselves,  and  with  consideration 
for  others.  It  is  shown,  perhaps,  again  at  the  close  of 
that  magnificent  chapter — the  fifteenth  in  First  Corin- 
thians— where  all  the  glory  to  be  revealed  when  Christ 
transfigures  His  people  is  made  a  reason  for  the  sober 
virtues  of  stedfastness  and  patience.  The  truth  is 
rather  that  Paul  knew  from  experience  that  the  supreme 
motives  are  needed  on  the  most  ordinary  occasions. 


'  Translating  it,  of  course,  "was  poor,"  or  "lived  poor":  which  is 
not  impossible  in  itself. 


270     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

He  never  appeals  to  incidents,  not  because  he  does  not 
know  them,  or  because  he  despises  them,  but  because 
it  is  far  more  potent  and  effectual  to  appeal  to  Christ. 
His  mind  gravitates  to  the  Incarnation,  or  the  Cross, 
or  the  Heavenly  Throne,  because  the  power  and  virtue 
of  the  Redeemer  are  concentrated  there.  The  spirit 
that  wrought  redemption,  and  that  changes  men  into 
the  image  of  the  Lord — the  spirit  without  which  no 
Christian  disposition,  not  even  the  most  "simply  human," 
can  be  produced — is  felt  there,  if  one  may  say  so,  in 
gathered  intensity ;  and  it  is  not  the  want  of  a  concrete 
vision  of  Jesus  such  as  Peter  and  John  had,  nor  a 
scholastic  insensibility  to  such  living  and  love-compelling 
details  as  our  first  three  Gospels  furnish,  that  makes 
Paul  have  recourse  thither;  it  is  the  instinct  of  the 
evangelist  and  pastor  who  knows  that  the  hope  of 
souls  is  to  live  in  the  presence  of  the  very  highest 
things.  Of  course  Paul  believed  in  the  pre-existence 
and  in  the  Incarnation.  The  writer  quoted  above  does 
not,  and  naturally  the  appeal  of  the  text  is  artificial 
and  unimpressive  to  him.  But  may  we  not  ask,  in 
view  of  the  simplicity,  the  unaffectedness,  and  the 
urgency  with  which  St.  Paul  uses  this  appeal  both 
here  and  in  Philippians,  whether  his  faith  in  the  pre- 
existence  can  have  had  no  more  than  the  precarious 
speculative  foundation  which  is  given  to  it  by  so  many 
who  reconstruct  his  theology  ?  '*  Christ,  the  perfect 
reconciler,  must  be  the  perfect  revealer  of  God ;  God's 
purpose — that  for  which  He  made  all  things — must  be 
seen  in  Him ;  but  that  for  which  God  made  all  things 
must  have  existed  (in  the  mind  of  God)  before  all 
things ;  therefore  Christ  is  (ideally)  from  everlasting." 
This  is  the  substance  of  many  explanations  of  how 
St.  Paul  came  by  his  Christology ;  but  if  this  had  been 


viii.  1-15.]  THE   GRACE  OF  LIBERALITY  271 

all,  could  St.  Paul  by  any  possibility  have  appealed 
thus  naively  to  the  Incarnation  as  a  fact^  and  a  fact 
which  v^as  one  of  the  mainsprings  of  Christian  morality  ? 

(3)  The  Apostle  pauses  for  a  moment  to  urge  his 
plea  in  the  interest  of  the  Corinthians  themselves.  He 
is  not  commanding,  but  giving  his  judgment:  "this,"  he 
says,  *'  is  profitable  for  you,  who  began  ^  a  year  ago,  not 
only  to  do,  but  also  to  will.^  But  now  complete  the 
doing  also."  Every  one  knows  this  situation,  and  its 
evils.  A  good  work  which  has  been  set  on  foot  with 
interest  and  spontaneity  enough,  but  which  has  begun 
to  drag,  and  is  in  danger  of  coming  to  nothing,  is  very 
demoralising.  It  enfeebles  the  conscience,  and  spoils 
the  temper.  It  develops  irresolution  and  incapacity, 
and  it  stands  perpetually  in  the  way  of  anything  else 
that  has  to  be  done.  Many  a  bright  idea  stumbles 
over  it,  and  can  get  no  further.  It  is  not  only  worldly 
wisdom,  but  divine  wisdom,  which  says :  ''  Whatso- 
ever thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might."  If 
it  is  the  giving  of  money,  the  building  of  a  church,  the 
insuring  of  a  life,  complete  the  doing.  To  be  always 
thinking  about  it,  and  always  in  an  ineffective  way 
busy  about  it,  is  not  profitable  for  you. 

It  is  in  this  connexion  that  the  Apostle  lays  down 
the  laws  of  Christian  liberahty.  In  these  verses  (11 
to  15)  there  are  three,  (a)  First,  there  must  be  readi- 
ness, or,  as  the  Authorised  Version  puts  it,  a  willing 
mind.  What  is  given  must  be  given  freely;  it  must  be  a 
gracious  offering,  not  a  tax.  This  is  fundamental.  The 
law  of  the  Old  Testament  is  re-enacted  in  the  New  :  "Of 
every  man  whose  heart  maketh   him  willing  shall   ye 

'  The  irpo  in  Trpoevi^p^aade  seems  to  mean  "  before  the  Macedonians." 
*  The  order  of  "do"  and  "will"  is   peculiar   and   has   not   been 
clearly  explained. 


272     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

take  the  Lord's  offering."  What  we  spend  in  piety  and 
charity  is  not  tribute  paid  to  a  tyrant,  but  the  response 
of  gratitude  to  our  Redeemer :  and  if  it  has  not  this 
character  He  does  not  want  it.  If  there  be  first  a 
wilHng  mind,  the  rest  is  easy ;  if  not,  there  is  no  need 
to  go  on.  {b)  The  second  law  is,  "  according  as  a  man 
has."  Readiness  is  the  acceptable  thing,  not  this  or 
that  proof  of  it.  If  we  cannot  give  much,  then  a  ready 
mind  makes  even  a  little  acceptable.  Only  let  us 
remember  this,  that  readiness  always  gives  all  that  is 
in  its  power.  The  readiness  of  the  poor  widow  in  the 
Temple  could  only  give  two  mites,  but  two  mites  were 
all  her  living  ;  the  readiness  of  the  Macedonians  was 
in  the  depths  of  poverty,  but  they  gave  themselves  to 
the  Lord.  The  widow's  mites  are  an  illustrious  example 
of  sacrifice,  and  this  word  of  the  Apostle  contains  a 
moving  appeal  for  generosity ;  yet  the  two  together 
have  been  profaned  times  innumerable  to  cloak  the 
meanest  selfishness,  (c)  The  third  law  is  reciprocity. 
Paul  does  not  write  that  the  Jews  may  be  relieved 
and  the  Corinthians  burdened,  but  on  the  principle  of 
equality  :  at  this  crisis  the  superfluity  of  the  Corinthians 
is  to  make  up  what  is  wanting  to  the  Jews,  and  at 
some  other  the  situation  will  be  exactly  reversed. 
Brotherhood  cannot  be  one-sided ;  it  must  be  mutual, 
and  in  the  interchange  of  services  equality  is  the  result. 
This,  as  the  quotation  hints,  answers  to  God's  design 
in  regard  to  worldly  goods,  as  that  design  is  indicated 
in  the  story  of  the  manna :  He  that  gathered  much  had 
no  more  than  his  neighbours,  and  he  that  gathered  little 
had  no  less.  To  be  selfish  is  not  an  infallible  way  of 
getting  more  than  your  share  ;  you  may  cheat  your 
neighbour  by  that  policy,  but  you  will  not  get  the  better 
of  God.     In  all  probability  men  are  far  more  nearly  on 


viii.  1-15.]  THE  GRACE  OF  LIBERALITY  273 

an  equality,  in  respect  of  what  their  worldly  possessions 
yield,  than  the  rich  in  their  pride,  or  the  poor  in  their 
envious  discontent,  would  readily  believe ;  but  where 
inequality  is  patent  and  painful — a  glaring  violation  of 
the  divine  intention  here  suggested — there  is  a  call  for 
charity  to  redress  the  balance.  Those  who  give  to  the  [ 
poor  are  co-operating  with  God,  and  the  more  a  com- 
munity is  Christianised,  the  more  will  that  state  be  . 
realised  in  which  each  has  what  he  needs. 


18 


XXI 

THE   FRUITS    OF  LIBERALITY 

"  But  thanks  be  to  God,  which  putteth  the  same  earnest  care  for 
you  into  the  heart  of  Titus.  For  indeed  he  accepted  our  exhortation 
but  being  himself  very  earnest,  he  went  forth  unto  you  of  his  own 
accord.  And  we  have  sent  together  with  him  the  brother  whose 
praise  in  the  Gospel  is  spread  through  all  the  Churches  ;  and  not  only 
so,  but  who  was  also  appointed  by  the  Churches  to  travel  with  us 
in  the  matter  of  this  grace,  which  is  ministered  by  us  to  the  glory  of 
the  Lord,  and  to  show  our  readiness  ;  avoiding  this,  that  any  man 
should  blame  us  in  the  matter  of  this  bounty  which  is  ministered  by 
us :  for  we  take  thought  for  things  honourable,  not  only  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord  but  also  in  the  sight  of  men.  And  we  have  sent  with 
them  our  brother,  whom  we  have  many  times  proved  earnest  in 
many  things,  but  now  much  more  earnest  by  reason  of  the  great 
confidence  which  he  hath  in  you.  Whether  any  inquire  about  Titus, 
he  is  my  partner,  and  my  fellow-worker  to  you-ward ;  or  our 
brethren,  they  are  the  messengers  of  the  Churches,  they  are  the  glory 
of  Christ.  Show  ye  therefore  unto  them  in  the  face  of  the  Churches 
the  proof  of  your  love,  and  of  our  glorying  on  your  behalf. 

"  For  as  touching  the  ministering  to  the  saints,  it  is  superfluous  for 
me  to  write  to  you  :  for  I  know  j'our  readiness,  of  which  I  glory  on 
your  behalf  to  them  of  Macedonia,  that  Achaia  hath  been  prepared 
for  a  year  past ;  and  your  zeal  hath  stirred  up  very  many  of  them. 
But  I  have  sent  the  brethren,  that  our  glorying  on  your  behalf  may 
not  be  made  void  in  this  respect;  that,  even  as  I  said,  ye  may  be 
prepared  :  lest  by  any  means,  if  there  come  with  me  any  of  Macedonia, 
and  find  you  unprepared,  we  (that  we  say  not,  ye)  should  be  put  to 
shame  in  this  confidence.  I  thought  it  necessary  therefore  to  intreat 
the  brethren,  that  they  would  go  before  unto  you,  and  make  up 
beforehand  your  afore-promised  bounty,  that  the  same  might  be  ready, 
as  a  matter  of  bounty,  and  not  of  extortion. 

"  But  this  I  say,  He  that  soweth  sparingly  shall  reap  also  sparingly ; 
and  he  that  soweth  bountifully  shall  reap  also  bountifully.     Let  each 
274 


viii.  i6-ix.  15.]     THE  FRUITS  OF  LIBERALITY  275 

man  do  according  as  he  hath  purposed  in  his  heart ;  not  grudgingly, 
or  of  necessity  :  for  God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver.  And  God  is  able  to 
make  all  grace  abound  unto  you  ;  that  yc,  having  always  all  sufficiency 
in  everything,  may  abound  unto  every  good  work :  as  it  is  written, 

He  hath  scattered  abroad,  he  hath  given  to  the  poor; 

His  righteousness  abideth  for  ever. 
And  He  that  supplicth  seed  to  the  sower  and  bread  for  food,  shall 
supply  and  multiply  your  seed  for  sowing,  and  increase  the  fruits 
of  your  righteousness :  ye  being  enriched  in  everything  unto  all 
liberalit}',  which  workcth  through  us  thanksgiving  to  God.  For  the 
ministration  of  this  service  not  only  filleth  up  the  measure  of  the 
wants  of  the  saints,  but  aboundeth  also  through  many  thanksgivings 
unto  God ;  seeing  that  through  the  proving  of  yon  by  this  ministra- 
tion they  glorify  God  for  the  obedience  of  your  confession  unto  the 
Gospel  of  Christ,  and  for  the  liberality  of  your  contribution  unto 
them  and  unto  all ;  while  they  themselves  also,  with  supplication 
on  your  behalf,  long  after  you  by  reason  of  the  exceeding  grace 
of  God  in  you.  Thanks  be  to  God  for  His  unspeakable  gift." — 
2  Cor.  viii.  i6-ix.  15  (R.V.). 

THIS  long  passage  has  a  good  many  difficulties  of 
detail,  for  the  grammarian  and  the  textual  critic. 
Where  it  seems  necessary,  these  will  be  referred  to  in 
the  notes  ;  but  as  the  large  meaning  of  the  writer  is 
hardly  affected  by  them,  they  need  not  interrupt  the 
course  of  exposition.  It  falls  into  three  parts,  which 
are  clearly  marked  as  such  in  the  Revised  Version  : 
(i)  Chap.  viii.  16-24,  commending  to  the  Corinthians 
the  three  brethren  who  were  to  precede  Paul  and 
prepare  the  collection  ;  (2)  Chap.  ix.  1-5,  appealing  to 
the  motives  of  emulation  and  shame  to  reinforce  love 
in  the  matter;  and  (3)  Chap.  ix.  6-15,  urging  liberality, 
and  enlarging  on  the  blessed  fruits  it  yields.  The 
first  of  these  divisions  begins,  and  the  last  ends,  with 
an  exclamatory  ascription  of  thanks  to  God. 

(i)  Chap.  viii.  16-24.  Of  the  three  men  who  acted 
as  commissioners  in  this  delicate  undertaking,  only 
one,   Titus,   is  known  to  us   by  name.     He   had  just 


275     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

returned  from  Corinth  ;  he  knew  all  the  critical  points 
in  the  situation  ;  and  no  doubt  the  Apostle  was  glad 
to  have  such  a  man  at  the  head  of  the  little  party.  He 
was  thankful  to  God  that  on  the  occasion  of  that 
previous  visit  the  Corinthians  had  completely  won  the 
heart  of  Titus,  and  that  his  loyal  fellow-worker  needed 
no  compulsion  to  return.  He  was  leaving  ^  Paul  of  his 
own  accord,  full  of  earnest  care  for  his  Achaian  friends. 
Along  with  him  went  a  second — the  brother  whose 
praise  in  the  Gospel  was  through  all  the  Churches. 
It  is  useless  to  ask  who  the  brother  was.  A  very 
early  opinion,  alluded  to  by  Origen,  and  represented 
apparently  in  the  traditional  subscription  to  this  Epistle, 
identified  him  with  Luke.  Probably  the  ground  for 
this  identification  was  the  idea  that  his  ''  praise  in  the 
Gospel "  referred  to  Luke's  work  as  an  evangelist. 
But  this  cannot  be  :  first,  because  Luke's  Gospel  cannot 
have  been  written  so  early ;  and,  secondly,  because 
''  the  Gospel "  at  this  date  does  not  mean  a  written 
thing  at  all.  This  man's  praise  in  the  Gospel  must 
mean  the  credit  he  had  acquired  by  his  services  to  the 
Christian  faith ;  it  might  be  by  some  bold  confession, 
or  by  activity  as  an  evangelist,  or  by  notable  hospitality 
to  missionaries,  or  by  such  helpful  ministries  as  the 
one  he  was  now  engaged  in.  The  real  point  of  interest 
for  us  in  the  expression  is  the  glimpse  it  gives  us  of 
the  unity  of  the  Church,  and  the  unimpeded  circulation 
of  one  life  through  all  its  members.  Its  early  divisions, 
theological  and  racial,  have  been  sufficiently  empha- 
sised ;  it  is  well  worth  while  to  observe  the  unity  of 
the   spirit.     It  was    this,    eventually,   which  gave    the 

'  AvOaipeTos  i^rjXdev :  the  aorists  all  through  this  passage  are 
virtually  epistolary — €^7j\6€v=he  is  going;  <TVP€7rifi\pafi€u=l  am  send- 
ing with  him 


viii.  i6-ix.  15.]     THE  FRUITS   OF  LIBER ALFTY  277 

Church  its  power  in  the  decline  of  the  Empire.  It  was 
the  only  institution  which  extended  over  the  area  of 
civilisation  with  a  common  spirit,  common  sympa- 
thies, and  a  common  standard  of  praise.  It  was 
a  compliment  to  the  Corinthians  to  include  in  this 
embassy  one  whose  good  name  was  honoured  wherever 
men  met  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  This  brother  was  at 
the  same  time  a  deputy  in  a  special  sense.  He  had 
been  elected  by  the  Churches  who  were  contributing 
to  the  collection,  that  he  might  accompany  the  Apostle 
when  it  was  taken  to  Jerusalem.  This,  in  itself,  is 
natural  enough,  and  it  would  not  call  for  comment  but 
for  the  remark  to  which  the  Apostle  proceeds — "  avoid- 
ing this,  that  any  man  should  blame  us  in  the  matter 
of  this  bounty  which  is  ministered  by  us  to  the  glory 
of  the  Lord,  and  to  show  our  ^  readiness  :  for  we  take 
thought  for  things  honourable,  not  only  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord,  but  also  in  the  sight  of  men." 

There  was  evidently  an  unpleasant  side  to  this 
transaction.  Paul's  interest  in  the  collection,  his 
enemies  had  plainly  said  (chap.  xii.  17,  18),  was  not 
quite  disinterested.  He  was  capable  of  putting  his 
own  hand  into  the  bag.  What  ought  a  Christian  man 
to  do  in  such  a  case  ?  We  shall  see  in  a  later  chapter 
how  keenly  Paul  felt  this  unworthy  imputation,  and 
with  what  generojis  passion  he  resented  it;  but  here 

'  Our  (TjfxQv),  not  your  (vfj-Qv),  is  the  true  reading.  The  precise 
sense  is  doubtful.  It  may  be  as  the  R.V.  gives  it,  though  this  com- 
pletely upsets  the  balance  of  the  clauses  Trpbs  tt]v  tov  Kvplov  86^aif 
and  Kal  Trpodvfxiav  rj/xQv,  The  meaning  should  rather  be:  "which  is 
ministered  by  us,  that  the  Lord  may  be  glorified,  and  that  we  may  be 
made  of  good  heart"  ;  only  Paul's  spirits  seem  a  small  thing  side  by 
side  with  the  Lord's  glory.  There  is  something  to  say  for  the  con- 
jecture that  the  Kai  before  irpodvfjxav  should  be  Kara,  even  though  this 
could  only  be  connected  with  xf'/3orov>;(?etj ;  "elected  as  we  earnestly 
desired," 


278     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

he  betrays  no  indignation  ;  he  joins  with  the  Churches 
who  are  making  the  collection  in  so  ordering  matters 
as  to  preclude  suspicion.  Wherever  the  money  is  con- 
cerned, his  responsibility  is  to  be  shared  with  another. 
It  is  a  pity  that  Christ  should  not  be  glorified,  and  the 
Apostle's  zeal  to  help  the  poor  saints  made  known, 
without  the  accompaniment  of  these  base  suspicions 
and  precautionary  measures ;  but  in  all  things  human, 
evil  will  mingle  with  good,  and  the  humble  course  is 
best,  which  does  not  only  what  God  knows  to  be 
honourable,  but  what  men  must  see  to  be  so  too.  In 
handling  money  especially,  it  is  best  to  err  on  the  safe 
side.  If  most  men  are  too  readily  suspected  by  others, 
it  only  answers  to  the  fact  that  most  men  are  too  ready 
to  trust  themselves.  We  have  an  infinite  faith  in  our 
own  honesty ;  and  when  auditors  are  appointed  to 
examine  their  books,  the  inexperienced  are  apt  to 
think  it  needless,  and  even  impertinent.  If  they  were 
wise,  they  would  welcome  it  as  a  protection  against 
suspicion  and  even  against  themselves.  Many  a  man 
has  ruined  himself — not  to  speak  of  those  who  trusted 
him — by  too  blind  a  belief  in  his  own  integrity.  The 
third  brother  who  accompanied  Titus  seems  to  have 
been  more  closely  associated  with  Paul  than  the  second. 
He  had  proved  him  often,  in  many  things,  and  found 
him  uniformly  earnest;  and  at  this  juncture  the  con- 
fidence he  had  in  the  Corinthians  made  him  more 
earnest  than  ever.  Paul  extols  the  three  in  the  highest 
terms  before  he  sends  them  off ;  if  anybody  in  Corinth 
wishes  to  know  what  they  are,  he  is  proud  to  tell. 
Titus  is  his  partner  in  the  apostolic  calling,  and  has 
shared  his  work  among  them  ;  the  other  brethren  are 
deputies  (apostles)  of  Churches,  a  glory  of  Christ. 
What  an  idealist  Paul  was !     What  an  appreciation  of 


viii.  i6-bc.  15.]     THE  FRUITS  OF  LIBERALITY  279 

Christian  character  he  had  when  he  described  these 
nameless  bcHevers  as  reflections  of  the  splendour  of 
Christ !  To  common  eyes  they  might  be  commonplace 
men  ;  but  when  Paul  looked  at  them  he  saw  the  dawning 
of  that  brightness  in  which  the  Lord  appeared  to  him 
by  the  way.  Contact  with  the  grimy  side  of  human 
nature  did  not  blind  him  to  this  radiance ;  rather  did 
this  glory  of  Christ  in  men's  souls  strengthen  him  to 
believe  all  things,  to  hope  all  things,  to  endure  all 
things.  In  showing  before  these  honoured  messengers 
the  proof  of  their  love,  and  of  his  boasting  on  their 
behalf,  the  Corinthians  will  show  it,^  he  says,  before 
the  face  of  the  Churches.  It  will  be  officially  reported 
throughout  Christendom. 

(2)  Chap.  ix.  1-5.  This  section  strikes  one  at  first 
as  greatly  wanting  in  connexion  with  what  precedes. 
It  looks  like  a  new  beginning,  an  independent  writing 
on  the  same  or  a  similar  subject.  This  has  led  some 
scholars  to  argue  that  either  chap.  viii.  or  chap.  ix.  be- 
longs to  a  different  occasion,  and  that  only  resemblance 
in  subject  has  led  to  one  of  them  being  erroneously 
inserted  here  beside  the  other.  This,  in  the  absence 
of  any  external  indication,  is  an  extremely  violent 
supposition  ;  and  closer  examination  goes  to  dissipate 
that  first  impression.  The  statements,  e.g.,  in  vv.  3-5 
would  be  quite  unintelligible  if  we  had  not  chap.  viii. 
16-24  to  explain  them  ;   and  instead  of  saying  there 


'  The  T.R.  has  evdel^aaOe  here,  and  so  Westcott  and  Hort  read 
in  text,  with  x,  C,  D**,  etc.  Most  editors  read  with  B,  D*,  E,  F,  G,  etc. 
ivSeiKvvij.evoi.  The  imperative  certainly  seems  to  be  a  change  made 
to  facilitate  the  construction.  Reading  the  participle,  wc  must  supply 
ivdei^eade,  and  put  a  comma  after  ivdeiKvv/xei/ot :  "in  showing  it  to  them, 
[you  will  show  it]  before  the  Churches."  This  is  the  snme  kind  of 
ellipsis  as  in  ver.  23. 


28o     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

is  no  connexion  between  ix.  I  and  what  precedes,  we 
should  rather  say  that  the  connexion  is  somewhat 
involved  and  circuitous — as  will  happen  when  one  is 
handling  a  topic  of  unusual  difficulty.  It  is  to  be 
explained  thus.  The  Apostle  feels  that  he  has  said  a 
good  deal  now  about  the  collection,  and  that  there  is 
a  danger  in  being  too  urgent.  He  uses  what  he  has 
just  said  about  the  reception  of  the  brethren  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  another  view  of  the  subject,  more 
flattering  to  the  Corinthians,  to  begin  with,  and  less 
importunate.  '^  Maintain  3'our  character  before  them," 
he  says  in  effect ;  ''  for  as  for  the  ministering  to  the 
saints,  it  is  superfluous  for  me  to  be  writing  to  you 
as  I  do."^  Instead  of  finding  it  necessary  to  urge 
their  duty  upon  them,  he  has  been  able  to  hold  up 
their  readiness  as  an  example  to  the  Macedonians. 
"Achaia  has  been  prepared  for  a  year  past,"  he  said 
to  his  fond  disciples  in  Thessalonica  and  Philippi ;  and 
the  zeal  of  the  Achaians,  or  rivalry  of  them,  roused 
the  majority  of  the  Macedonians.  This  is  one  way  of 
looking  at  w^hat  happened  ;  another,  and  surely  Paul 
would  have  been  the  first  to  say  a  more  profound,  is 
that  of  chap.  viii.  i — the  grace  of  God  was  given  in 
the  Churches  of  Macedonia.  But  the  grace  of  God 
takes  occasions,  and  uses  means  ;  and  here  its  oppor- 
tunity and  its  instrument  for  working  in  Macedonia 
was  the  ready  generosity  of  the  Corinthians.  It  has 
wrought,  indeed,  so  effectively  that  the  tables  are 
turned,  and  now  it  is  the  liberality  of  Macedonia  which 
is  to  provoke  Corinth.  Paul  is  sending  on  these 
brethren  beforehand,  lest,  if  any  of  the  Macedonians 
should    accompany   him    when    he    starts    for    Corinth 

'  This  is  the  force  of  to  ypd<p€iv. 


viii.  i6-ix.  15-]     THE  FRUITS   OF  LIBERALITY  281 

himself,  they  should  find  matters  not  so  flourishing 
as  he  had  led  them  to  believe.  "  That  would  put  me  to 
shame,"  he  says  to  the  Corinthians,  "  not  to  speak  of 
you.  1  have  been  very  confident  in  speaking  of  you  as 
I  have  done  in  Macedonia  :  do  keep  up  my  credit  and 
your  own.  Let  this  blessing,  which  you  are  going  to 
bestow  on  the  poor,  be  ready  ^5  a  blessing — />.,  as 
something  which  one  gives  willingly,  and  as  liberally 
as  he  can  ;  and  not  as  a  matter  of  avarice,^  in  which 
one  gives  reluctantly,  keeping  as  much  as  he  can." 

The  legitimacy  of  such  motives  as  are  appealed  to 
in  this  paragraph  will  always  be  more  or  less  questioned 
among  Christian  men,  but  as  long  as  human  nature  is 
what  it  is  they  will  always  be  appealed  to.  ZrjXoTUirov 
r/ap  TO  rcov  avOpcoircov  76^09  (Chrys.).  A  great  man 
of  action  like  St.  Paul  will  of  course  find  his  tempta- 
tions along  this  line.  He  is  so  eager  to  get  men  to  act, 
and  the  inertness  of  human  nature  is  so  great,  that 
it  is  hard  to  decline  an3'thing  which  will  set  it  in 
motion.  It  is  not  the  highest  motive,  certainly,  when 
the  forwardness  of  one  stimulates  another  ;  but  in  a 
good  cause,  it  is  better  than  none.  A  good  cause, 
too,  has  a  wonderful  power  of  its  own  when  men 
begin  to  attend  to  it;  it  asserts  itself,  and  takes 
possession  of  souls  on  its  own  account.  Rivalry  be- 
comes generous  then,  even  if  it  remains ;  it  is  a  race 
in  love  that  is  being  run,  and  all  who  run  obtain  the 
prize.  Competitions  for  prizes  which  only  one  can 
gain  have  a  great  deal  in  them  that  is  selfish  and 
bad  ;  but  rivalry  in  the  service  of  others — rivalry  in 

•  The  R.V.  renders  irXeove^ia  "  extortion  " — the  Tr'keoviKTai  being 
those  who  get  the  money ;  but  it  seems  to  me  more  natural  to  render 
"avarice,"  in  which  case  both  evXoyia  and  wXeove^ia  apply  to  the 
Corinthians. 


c:l 


282     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

unselfishness — will  not  easily  degenerate  in  this  direc- 
tion. Paul  does  not  need  to  be  excused  because  he 
stimulates  the  Macedonians  by  the  promptitude  of  the 
Corinthians — though  he  had  his  misgivings  about  this 
last — and  the  Corinthians  by  the  liberality  of  the 
Macedonians.  The  real  motive  in  both  cases  was  *'  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  though  He  w^as 
rich,  yet  for  our  sakes  became  poor."  It  is  this  which 
underlies  everything  in  the  Christian  heart,  and  nothing 
can  do  harm  which  works  as  its  auxiliary. 

(3)  Chap.  ix.  6-15.  In  the  third  and  last  section 
the  Apostle  resumes  his  direct  and  urgent  tone.  "  I  do 
not  ■  need  to  write  to  you,"  he  seems  to  say,  ''  but 
one  thing  I  cannot  but  set  down :  He  that  soweth 
sparingly  shall  reap  also  sparingly ;  and  he  that 
soweth  bountifully  ^  shall  reap  also  bountifully."  That 
is  the  law  of  God,  and  the  nature  of  things,  whether 
men  regard  or  disregard  it.  Charity  is  in  a  real  sense 
an  investment,  not  a  casting  away  of  money  ;  it  is  not 
fruitless,  but  bears  fruit  in  the  measure  in  which  it  is 
sow^n.  Of  course  it  cannot  be  enforced — that  would 
be  to  deny  its  very  nature.  Each  is  to  give  what 
he  has  purposed  in  his  heart,  where  he  is  free  and 
true  :  he  is  not  to  give  out  of  grief,  mourning  over 
w^hat  he  gives  and  regretting  he  could  not  keep  it ; 
neither  is  he  to  give  out  of  necessity,  because  his 
position,  or  the  usages  of  his  society,  or  the  comments 
of  his  neighbours,  put  a  practical  compulsion  upon 
him.  God  loves  a  cheerful  giver.  Money  is  nothing 
to  Him  but  as  an  index  to  the  soul ;  unless  the  soul 
gives  it,  and  gives  itself  with  it.  He  takes  no  account. 


'  'Evr'    evKoylaLS :    "  so    that   blessings  are    associated    therewith  " 
(Winer)  :  the  full  hand  in  sowing  makes  a  full  hand  in  reaping. 


viii.  i6-ix.  15.]     THE  FRUITS  OF  LIBER ALirY  283 

But  Ho  docs  take  account  of  true  charity,  and  because 
He  does,  the  charitable  may  be  of  good  cliecr :  He  will 
not  allow  them  to  be  without  the  means  of  manifesting 
a  spirit  so  grateful  to  Him.  If  we  really  wish  to  be 
generous.  He  will  not  withhold  from  us  the  power 
of  being  so.  This  is  what  the  Apostle  says  in  ver.  8  : 
"  God  is  able  to  make  all  grace  abound  toward  you, 
that  ye,  having  always  all  sufficiency  in  everything, 
may  abound  unto  every  good  work."  There  is,  indeed, 
another  way  of  rendering  avrapKeia  (sufficiency).  Some 
take  it  subjectively,  not  objectively,  and  make  it  mean, 
not  sufficiency,  but  contentment.  But  though  a  con- 
tented spirit  disposes  people  wonderfully  to  be  generous, 
and  the  discontented,  who  have  never  enough  for  them- 
selves, can  never,  of  course,  spare  anything  for 
anybody  else,  this  meaning  is  decidedly  to  be  rejected. 
The  sufficiency,  as  ver.  10  also  shows,  is  outward :  we 
shall  always,  if  we  are  charitable,  have  by  God's  grace 
the  means  of  being  more  so.  He  is  able  to  bless  us 
abundantly,  that  we  may  be  able  for  every  good  work. 
Observe  the  purpose  of  God's  blessing.  This  is  the 
import  of  the  quotation  from  the  1 1 2th  Psalm,  in  which 
we  have  the  portrait  of  the  good  man  :  *'  He  hath 
dispersed " — what  uncalculating  liberality  there  is  in 
the  very  word — "  he  hath  given  to  the  poor :  his 
righteousness  abideth  for  ever."  The  approximation,  in 
the  Jewish  morals  of  later  times,  of  the  ideas  of  right- 
eousness and  almsgiving,  has  led  some  to  limit 
BcKaioavi'Tj  in  this  passage  (as  in  Matt.  vi.  i)  to  the 
latter  sense.  This  is  extremely  improbable — I  think 
impossible.  In  the  Psalm,  both  in  ver.  3  and  ver.  10 
(LXX.),  the  expression  "  his  righteousness  abideth  for 
ever "  reflects  God's  verdict  on  the  character  as  a 
whole,     The  character  there   described,  and  here  re- 


284     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

ferred  to  by  the  relevant  trait  of  generosity,  is  one 
which  need  fear  no  chances  of  the  future.  He  who 
supplies  seed  to  the  sower  and  bread  for  food  will 
supply  and  multiply  the  seed  sown  by  the  generous 
Corinthians  (that  they  may  ever  be  in  a  position  to  be 
generous),  and  will  cause  also  the  fruits  of  their  right- 
eousness to  grow.  Their  righteousness,  as  it  figures 
in  this  last  phrase,  is  of  course  represented,  for  the 
time  being,  by  their  generosity ;  and  the  poetic  ex- 
pression ''  fruits  of  righteousness,"  which  is  borrowed 
from  Hosea,  designates  the  results  which  that  genero- 
sity produces.  It  is  not  only  an  investment  which 
guarantees  to  them  the  generous  care  of  God  for  their 
own  welfare ;  it  is  a  seed  which  bears  another  and 
more  spiritual  harvest.  With  some  expansion  of  heart 
on  this  the  Apostle  concludes. 

(a)  It  yields  a  rich  harvest  of  thanksgiving  to  God. 
This  is  expressed  in  ver.  12,  and  is  the  principal  point. 
It  is  something  to  fill  up  further  the  measure  of  a 
brother's  needs  by  a  timely  gift,  but  how  much  more 
it  is  to  change  the  tune  of  his  spirit,  and  whereas  we 
found  him  cheerless  or  weak  in  faith,  to  leave  him 
gratefully  praising  God.  True  thankfulness  to  the 
Heavenly  Father  is  an  atmosphere  in  which  all  virtues 
flourish  :  and  those  whose  charity  bears  fruit  in  this 
grateful  spirit  are  benefactors  of  mankind  to  an  extent 
which  no  money  can  estimate.  It  is  probably  forcing 
the  Apostle's  language  to  insist  that  XeiTovp^ia,  as  a 
name  for  the  collection,  has  any  priestly  or  sacrificial 
reference ;  ^  but  unfeigned  charity  is  in  its  very  nature 


'  AeLTovpyla  :  for  the  general  sense  of  "service,"  especially  charit- 
able service,  quite  apart  from  priestly  associations,  see  Phil.  ii.  25, 
30  :  and  Grimm's  Lexicon. 


viii.  i6-ix.  15.]     THE  FRUITS  OF  LIBERALITY  285 

a  sacrifice  of  praise  to  God — the  answer  of  our  love 
to  His;  and  it  has  its  best  effect  when  it  evokes 
the  thanksgivings  to  God  of  those  who  receive  it. 
Wherever  love  is,  He  must  be  first  and  last. 

(b)  The  charity  of  the  Corinthians  bore  another 
spiritual  fruit :  in  consequence  of  it  the  saints  at  Jeru- 
salem were  won  to  recognise  more  unreservedly  the 
Christian  standing  of  the  Gentile  brethren.  This  is 
what  we  read  in  ver.  13.  Taking  occasion  from  the 
proof  of  what  you  are,  which  this  ministration  of  yours 
has  given  them,  they  glorify  God  "  for  the  obedience  of 
your  confession  uiito'tBe  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  for  the 
liberality  of  your  contribution  unto  them  and  unto  all." 
The  verbal  combinations  possible  here  give  free  scope 
to  the  ingenuity  and  the  caprice  of  grammarians  ;  but 
the  kind  of  thing  meant  remains  plain.  Once  the 
Christians  of  Jerusalem  had  had  their  doubts  about  the 
Corinthians,  and  the  other  pagans  who  were  said  to 
have  received  the  Gospel ;  they  had  heard  marvellous 
reports  about  them  certainly,  but  it  remained  to  be 
seen  on  what  these  reports  rested.  They  would  not 
commit  themselves  hastily  to  any  compromising  relation 
to  such  outsiders.  Now  all  their  doubts  have  been 
swept  away ;  the  Gentiles  have  actually  come  to  the 
relief  of  their  poverty,  and  there  is  no  mistaking  what 
that  means.  The  language  of  love  is  intelligible  every- 
where, and  there  is  only  One  who  teaches  it  in  such 
relations  as  are  involved  here — Jesus  Christ.  Yes, 
once  they  had  their  doubts  of  you  ;  but  now  they  will 
pTaise  God'  that  you  have  obediently  confessed  the 
Gospel,  and  frankly  owned  a  fellowship  with  them  and 
with  all.  The  last  words  mean,  in  effect,  that  the 
Corinthians  had  liberally  shared  what  they  had  with 
them  and  with  all ;  but  the  terms  are  so  chosen  as  to 


286     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

obliterate,  as  far  as  possible,  all  but  the  highest  associa- 
tions. This,  then,  is  another  fruit  of  charity  :  it  widens 
the  thoughts — it  often  improves  the  theology — of  those 
who  receive  it.  All  goodness,  men  feel  instinctively, 
is  of  God  ;  and  they  cannot  condemn  as  godless,  or  even 
as  beyond  the  covenant,  those  through  whom  goodness 
comes  to  them. 

(c)  Finally,  among  the  fruits  of  charity  is  to  be 
reckoned  the  direct  response  of  brotherly  love,  expressed 
especially  in  intercessory  prayer,  and  in  a  longing  to 
see  those  on  whom  God's  grace  rests  so  abundantly. 
An  unknown  and  distant  benefactor  is  sometimes  better 
than  one  near  at  hand.  He  is  regarded  simply  in  his 
character  as  a  benefactor;  we  know  nothing  of  him 
that  can  possibly  discount  his  kindness ;  our  mind  is 
compelled  to  rest  upon  his  virtues  and  remember  them 
gratefully_before  God.  One  of  the  meanest  experiences 
of  human  nature  that  we  can  have — and  it  is  not  an 
imaginary  one — is  to  see  people  paying  the  debt  of 
gratitude,  or  at  least  mitigating  the  sense  of  obligation, 
by  thinking  over  the  deficiencies  in  their  benefactor's 
character.  *'  He  is  better  off  than  we  are  ;  it  is  nothing 
to  him ;  and  if  he  is  kind  to  the  poor,  he  has  need  to 
be.  It  will  take  a  lot  of  charity  to  cover  all  he  would 
like  to  hide."  This  revolting  spirit  is  the  extreme 
opposite  of  the  intercessory  prayer  and  brotherly 
yearning  which  St.  Paul  sees  in  his  mind's  eye  among 
the  saints  at  Jerusalem.  Perhaps  he  saw  almost  more 
than  was  really  to  be  seen.  The  union  of  hearts  he 
aimed  at  was  never  more  than  imperfectly  attained. 
But  to  have  aimed  at  it  was  a  great  and  generous 
action,  and  to  have  brought  so  many  Gentile  Churches 
to  co-operate  to  this  end  was  a  magnificent  service  to 
the  kingdom  of  God. 


viii.  i6-ix.  15.]     THE  FRUITS  OF  LIBERALITY  287 

These  "  fruits  "  are  not  as  yet  actually  borne,  but  to 
the  Apostle's  loving  anticipation  they  are  as  good  as 
real.  They  are  the  fruits  of  "  the  righteousness  "  of 
the  Corinthians,  the  harvest  that  God  has  caused  to 
grow  out  of  their  liberality.  From  the  very  beginning 
there  have  been  two  opinions  as  to  what  St.  Paul 
means  by  the  exclamation  with  which  he  closes — 
"Thanks  be  unto  God  for  His  unspeakable  gift." 
On  the  one  hand,  it  is  read  as  if  it  were  a  part  of 
what  precedes,  the  unspeakable  gift  of  God  being 
the  numberless  blessings  that  charity  yields,  by  God's 
goodness,  both  to  those  who  give  and  to  those  who 
receive  it.  Paul  in  this  case  would  be  thinking, 
when  he  wrote,  of  the  joy  with  which  the  Gentiles 
gave,  and  of  the  gratitude,  the  willing  recognition, 
and  the  brotherly  prayers  and  longing,  with  which  the 
Jews  received,  help  in  the  hour  of  need.  These 
would  be  the  unspeakable  gift.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  sentence  is  read  as  if  it  stood  apart,  not  the 
continuation  of  what  immediately  precedes,  but  the  J 
overflow  of  the  Apostle's  heart  in  view  of  the  whole  \ 
situation.  It  becomes  possible,  then,  to  regard  "  God's  i 
unspeakable  gift "  as  the  gift  of  redemption  in  His  Son 
— the  great,  original,  unsearchable  gift,  in  which  every- 
thing else  is  included,  and  especially  all  such  manifes- 
tations of  brotherly  love  as  have  just  been  in  view. 
Sound  feeling,  I  think,  unequivocally  supports  the  last 
interpretation.  The  very  word  "  unspeakable  "  is  one 
of  a  class  that  Paul  reserves  for  this  particular  object ; 
the  wisdom  and  love  of  God  as  displayed  in  man's 
salvation  are  unspeakable,  unsearchable,  passing  know- 
ledge ;  but  nothing  else  is.  It  is  to  this  his  mind  goes 
back,  instinctively,  as  he  contemplates  what  has  flowed 
from  it  in  the  particular  case  before  us ;  but  it  is  the 


288     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

great  divine  gift,  and  not  its  fruits  in  men's  lives,  how- 
ever rich  and  various,  that  it  passes  the  power  of  words 
to  characterise.  It  is  for  it,  and  not  for  its  results  in 
Jew  or  Gentile,  that  the  Apostle  so  devoutly  thanks 
God. 


XXII 

IV A  R 

"Now  I  Paul  myself  intreat  you  by  the  meekness  and  gentleness 
of  Christ,  I  who  in  your  presence  am  lowly  among  you,  but  being 
absent  am  of  good  courage  toward  you  :  yea,   I  beseech  you,  that 

1  may  not  when  present  show  courage  with  the  confidence  where- 
with I  count  to  be  bold  against  some,  which  count  of  us  as  if  we 
walked  according  to  the  flesh.  For  though  we  walk  in  the  flesh,  we 
do  not  war  according  to  the  flesh  (for  the  weapons  of  our  warfare  are 
not  of  the  flesh,  but  mighty  before  God  to  the  casting  down  of  strong 
holds) ;  casting  down  imaginations,  and  every  high  thing  that  is 
exalted  against  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  bringing  every  thought 
into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of  Christ ;  and  being  in  readiness  to 
avenge  all  disobedience,  when  your  obedience  shall  be  fulfilled." — 

2  Cor.  X.  1-6  (R.V.). 

THE  last  four  chapters  of  the  Second  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  stand  as  manifestly  apart  as  the 
two  about  the  collection.  A  great  deal  too  much  has 
been  made  of  this  undeniable  fact.  If  a  man  has 
a  long  letter  to  write,  in  which  he  wishes  to  speak 
of  a  variety  of  subjects,  we  may  expect  variations  of 
tone,  and  more  or  less  looseness  of  connexion.  If  he 
has  something  on  his  mind  which  it  is  difficult  to  speak 
about,  but  which  cannot  be  suppressed,  we  may  expect 
him  to  keep  it  to  the  end,  and  to  introduce  it,  perhaps, 
with  awkward  emphasis.  The  scholars  who  have 
argued,  on  the  ground  of  the  extreme  difference  of  tone, 
and  want  of  connexion,  that  chaps,  x.-xiii.  of  this 
Epistle  were  originally  a  separate  letter,  either  earlier 
(Weisse)  or  later  (Semler)  than  the  first  seven  chapters, 

289  19 


290     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

seem  to  have  overlooked  these  obvious  considerations.'^ 
If  Paul  stopped  dictating  for  the  day  at  the  end  of 
chap.  ix. — if  he  even  stopped  a  few  moments  in  doubt 
how  to  proceed  to  the  critical  subject  he  had  still  to 
handle — the  want  of  connexion  is  sufficiently  explained  ; 
the  tone  in  which  he  writes,  when  we  consider  the 
subject,  needs  no  justification.  The  mission  of  Titus 
had  resulted  very  satisfactorily,  so  far  as  one  special 
incident  was  concerned — the  treatment  of  a  guilty  person 
by  the  Church ;  the  tension  of  feeling  over  that  case 
had  passed  by.  But  in  the  general  situation  of  affairs 
at  Corinth  there  was  much  to  make  the  Apostle  anxious 
and  angry.  There  were  Judaists  at  work,  impugning 
his  authority  and  corrupting  his  Gospel ;  there  was  at 
least  a  minority  of  the  Church  under  their  influence  ; 
there  were  large  numbers  living,  apparently,  in  the 
grossest  sins  (chap.  xii.  20  f.) ;  there  was  something,  we 
cannot  but  think,  approaching  spiritual  anarchy.  The 
one  resource  the  Apostle  has  with  which  to  encounter 
this  situation — his  one  standing  ground  alike  against 
the  Church  and  those  who  were  corrupting  it — is  his 
apostolic  authority ;  and  to  the  vindication  of  this  he 
first  addresses  himself  This,  I  believe,  explains  the 
peculiar  emphasis  with  which  he  begins  :  ''  Now  I  myself, 
I  Paul  intreat  you."  AvTo<i  iyoo  JTaOXo?  is  not  only 
the  grammatical  subject  of  the  sentence,  but  if  one  may 
say  so,  the  subject  under  consideration ;  it  is  the  very 
person  whose  authority  is  in  dispute  who  puts  himself 
forward  deliberately  in  this  authoritative  way.  The  8e 
('*  now  ")  is  merely  transitional ;  the  writer  moves  on, 
without  indicating  any  connexion,  to  another  matter. 

'  On  Hausrath's  view  that  this  was  a  letter  between  our  Ep.  I. 
and  Ep.  II.  see  the  Introduction. 


X.  1-6.]  IV A  R  291 

In  the  long  sentence  which  makes  up  the  first  and 
second  verses,  everything  comes  out  at  once — the 
Apostle's  indignation,  in  that  extreme  personal  emphasis  ; 
his  restraint  of  it,  in  the  appeal  to  the  meekness  and 
gentleness  of  Christ ;  his  resentment  at  the  miscon- 
struction of  his  conduct  by  enemies,  who  called  him  a 
coward  at  hand,  and  a  brave  man  only  at  a  safe  distance  ; 
and  his  resolve,  if  the  painful  necessity  is  not  spared 
him,  to  come  with  a  rod  and  not  spare.  It  is  as  if 
all  this  had  been  dammed  up  in  his  heart  for  long, 
and  to  say  a  single  word  was  to  say  everything.  The 
appeal  to  the  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ  is 
pecuharly  affecting  in  such  a  connexion  ;  it  is  intended 
to  move  the  Corinthians,  but  what  we  feel  is  how  it 
has  moved  Paul.  It  may  be  needful,  on  occasion, 
to  assert  oneself,  or  at  least  one's  authority;  but  it 
is  difficult  to  do  it  without  sin.  It  is  an  exhilarating 
sensation  to  human  nature  to  be  in  the  right,  and  when 
we  enjoy  it  we  are  apt  to  enlist  our  temper  in  the  divine 
service,  forgetting  that  the  wrath  of  man  does  not  work 
the  righteousness  of  God.  Paul  felt  this  danger,  and 
in  the  very  sentence  in  which  he  puts  himself  and 
his  dignity  forward  with  uncompromising  firmness,  he 
recalls  to  his  own  and  his  readers'  hearts  the  charac- 
teristic temper  of  the  Lord.  How  far  He  was,  under 
the  most  hateful  provocation,  from  violence  and  passion  I 
How  far  from  that  sinful  self-assertion,  which  cannot 
consider  the  case  and  claims  of  others  I  It  is  when 
we  are  in  the  right  that  we  must  watch  our  temper, 
and,  instead  of  letting  anger  carry  us  away,  make  our 
appeal  for  the  right  by  the  meekness  and  gentleness 
of  Jesus.  This,  when  right  is  won,  makes  it  twice 
blessed.  The  words,  ''who  in  your  presence  am 
lowly  among  you,  but  being  absent  am  of  good  courage 


^92     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

toward  you,"  are  one  of  the  sneers  current  in  Corinth 
at  Paul's  expense.  When  he  was  there,  his  enemies 
said,  face  to  face  with  them,  he  was  humble  enough  ;^ 
it  was  only  when  he  left  them  he  became  so  brave. 
This  mean  slander  must  have  stung  the  proud  soul  of 
the  Apostle — the  mere  quotation  of  it  shows  this ;  but 
the  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ  have  entered 
into  him,  and  instead  of  resenting  it  he  continues  in 
a  still  milder  tone.  He  descends  from  urging  or 
entreating  (irapaKaXo))  to  beseeching  (Seofiai).  The 
thought  of  Christ  has  told  already  on  his  heart  and 
on  his  pen.  He  begs  them  so  to  order  their  conduct 
that  he  may  be  spared  the  pain  of  demonstrating  the 
falsehood  of  that  charge.  He  counts  on  taking  daring 
action  against  some  at  Corinth  who  count  of  him  as 
though  he  walked  after  the  flesh  ;  but  they  can  make 
this  face-to-face  hardihood  needless,  and  in  the  name, 
not  of  his  own  cowardice,  but  of  his  Lord's  meekness 
and  considerateness,  he  appeals  to  them  to  do  so. 
Ava^TjiJiovixevoi  7rapaKa\ov/JL€V' 

The  charge  of  walking  after  the  flesh  is  one  that 
needs  interpretation.  In  a  general  way  it  means  that 
Paul  was  a  worldly,  and  not  a  spiritual,  man ;  and 
that  the  key  to  his  character  and  conduct — even  in  his 
relations  with  Churches — was  to  be  sought  in  his  private 
and  personal  interests.  What  this  would  mean  in  any 
particular  case  would  depend  upon  the  circumstances. 
It  might  mean  that  he  was  actuated  by  avarice,  and, 
in  spite  of  pretences  to  be  disinterested,  was  ruled  at 
bottom  by  the  idea  of  what  would  pay ;   or  it  might 

'  This  is  the  only  place  in  the  New  Testament  where  rareifbs 
("lowly")  is  used  in  a  bad  (contemptuous)  sense:  in  Christian  lips 
it  is  a  term  of  praise  (Matt.  xi.  29)  ;  the  speakers  here  had  not  learned 
its  Christian  meaning. 


X.  1-6.]  IVAR  293 

mean — and  in  this  place  probably  does  mean — that  he 
had  an  undue  regard  for  the  opinion  of  others,  and 
acted  with  feeble  inconsistency  in  his  efforts  to  please 
them.  A  man  of  whom  either  of  these  things  could  be 
truly  said  would  be  without  spiritual  authority,  and 
it  was  to  discredit  the  Apostle  in  the  Church  that  the 
vague  and  damaging  charge  was  made. 

He  certainly  shows  no  want  of  courage  in  meeting 
it.  That  he  walks  in  the  flesh,  he  cannot  deny.  He 
is  a  human  being,  wearing  the  weak  nature,  and  all  its 
maladies  are  incident  to  him.  As  far  as  that  nature 
goes,  it  is  as  possible  that  he,  as  that  any  man,  should 
be  ruled  by  its  love  of  ease  or  popularity ;  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  should  be  overcome  by  timidity,  and  shrink 
from  difficult  duties.  But  he  denies  that  this  is  his 
case.  He  spends  his  life  m  this  nature,  with  all  its 
capacity  for  unworthy  conduct ;  but  in  his  Christian 
warfare  he  is  not  ruled  by  it — he  has  conquered  it,  and 
it  has  no  power  over  him  at  all.  '*  I  was  with  you,"  he 
wrote  in  the  First  Epistle,  **  with  weakness  and  fear  and 
much  trembling  "  ;  but  '^  my  speech  and  my  preaching 
were  .  .  .  with  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of 
power."  This  is  practically  what  he  says  here,  and 
what  must  be  said  by  every  man  who  undertakes  to  do 
anything  for  God.  No  one  can  be  half  so  well  aware 
as  he,  if  he  is  sincere  at  all,  of  the  immense  contrast 
between  the  nature  in  which  he  lives  and  the  service 
to  which  he  is  called.  None  of  his  enemies  can  know 
so  well  as  he  the  utter  earthenness  of  the  vessel  in 
which  the  heavenly  treasure  is  deposited.  But  the 
very  meaning  of  a  divine  call  is  that  a  man  is  made 
master  of  this  weakness,  and  through  whatever  pain 
and  self-repression  can  disregard  it  for  his  work's  sake. 
With  some  men  timidity  t's  the  great  trial :  for  them, 


294     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

it  is  the  flesh.  They  are  afraid  to  declare  the  whole 
counsel  of  God;  or  they  are  afraid  of  some  class,  or  of 
some  particular  person  :  they  are  brave  with  a  pen 
perhaps,  or  in  a  pulpit,  or  surrounded  by  sympathising 
spectators ;  but  it  is  not  in  them  to  be  brave  alone,  and 
to  find  in  the  Spirit  a  courage  and  authority  which 
overbear  the  weakness  of  the  flesh.  From  all  such 
timidity,  as  an  influence  affecting  his  apostolic  work, 
Paul  can  pronounce  himself  free.  Like  Jeremiah  (Jer. 
i.  6-8)  and  Ezekiel  (Ezek.  ii.  6-8),  he  is  naturally  capable, 
but  spiritually  incapable  of  it.  He  is  full  of  might  by 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  :  and  when  he  takes  the  field  in 
the  Lord's  service,  the  flesh  is  as  though  it  were  not. 
Since  the  expression  iv  aapKi  irepLTrarovvTe^  refers  to 
the  whole  of  the  Apostle's  hfe,  it  seems  natural  to  take 
arparevofieOa  as  referring  to  the  whole  of  his  ministry, 
and  not  solely  to  his  present  campaign  against  the 
Corinthians.  It  is  of  his  apostolic  labours  in  general — 
of  course  including  that  which  lay  immediately  before 
him — that  he  says  :  *'  The  weapons  of  our  warfare  are 
not  of  the  flesh,  but  mighty  before  God  ^  to  the  casting 
down  of  strong  holds." 

Nobody  but  an  evangelist  could  have  written  this 
sentence.  Paul  knew  from  experience  that  men  fortify 
themselves  against  God  :  they  try  to  find  impregnable 
positions  in  which  they  may  defy  Him,  and  live  their 
own  life.  Human  nature,  when  God  is  announced  to 
speak,  instinctively  puts  itself  on  its  guard ;  and  you 
cannot  pass  that  guard,  as  Paul  was  well  aware,  with 
weapons  furnished  by  the  flesh.  The  weapons  need  to 
be  divinely  strong;    mighty  in  God's  sight,  for  God's 

*  The  dative  in  ^vvara  t(J5  Gey  is  the  same  as  in  Jonah  iii.  3,  Acts 
vii.  20.  A  vague  rendering  like  '  divinely  pow^erful "  is  probably 
nearest  the  meaning. 


X.I  6.]  IVAR  29s 

service,  with  God's  own  might.  There  is  an  answer 
in  this  to  many  of  the  questions  that  are  being  asked 
at  present  about  methods  of  evangeHsing ;  where  the 
divinely  powerful  weapons  are  found,  such  questions 
give  no  trouble.  No  man  who  has  ever  had  a  direct 
and  unmistakable  blessing  on  his  work  as  an  evangelist 
has  ever  enlisted  'Hhe  flesh"  in  God's  service.  No 
such  man  has  ever  seen,  or  said,  that  learning, 
eloquence,  or  art  in  the  preacher ;  or  bribes  of  any  sort 
to  the  hearer;  or  approaches  to  the  "strong  holds," 
constructed  of  amusements,  lectures,  concerts,  and  so 
forth,  were  of  the  very  slightest  value.  He  who  knows 
anything  about  the  matter  knows  that  it  is  a  life-and- 
death  interest  which  is  at  stake  when  the  soul  comes 
face  to  face  with  the  claims  and  the  mercy  of  God ;  and 
that  the  preacher  who  has  not  the  hardihood  to  repre- 
sent it  as  such  will  not  be  listened  to,  and  should  not 
be.  Paul  was  armed  with  this  tremendous  sense  of 
what  the  Gospel  was — the  immensity  of  grace  in  it,  the 
awfulness  of  judgment;  and  it  was  this  which  gave  him 
his  power,  and  lifted  him  above  the  arts,  the  wisdom, 
and  the  timidity  of  the  flesh.  A  man  will  hold  his  own 
against  anything  but  this.  He  w^ill  parley  with  any 
weapon  flesh  can  fashion  or  wield  ;  this  is  the  only  one 
to  which  he  surrenders. 

Perhaps  in  the  fifth  verse,  which  is  an  expansion  ot 
**  the  casting  down  of  strong  holds,"  a  special  reference 
to  the  Corinthians  begins  to  be  felt :  at  all  events  they 
might  easily  apply  it  to  themselves.  "Casting  down 
imaginations,"  the  Apostle  says,  **  and  every  high  thing 
that  is  exalted  against  the  knowledge  of  God."  ''Ima- 
ginations "  is  probably  a  fair  enough  rendering  of 
XoytafMou^;,  though  the  margin  has  "  reasonings,"  and 
the  same  word  in  Rom.  ii.   15  is  rendered  "thoughts." 


296     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

To  what  it  applies  is  not  very  obvious.  Men  dc 
certainly  fortify  themselves  against  the  Gospel  in  their 
thoughts.  The  proud  wisdom  of  the  Greek  was 
familiar  to  the  Apostle,  and  even  the  obvious  fact  that 
it  had  not  brought  the  world  salvation  was  not  sufficient 
to  lower  its  pride.  The  expression  has  sometimes 
been  censured  as  justifying  the  sacrificium  intelleduSy 
or  as  taking  away  freedom  of  thought  in  religion.  To 
think  of  Paul  censuring  the  free  exercise  of  intelligence 
in  religion  is  too  absurd  ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that, 
with  his  firm  hold  of  the  great  facts  on  which  the 
Christian  faith  depends,  he  would  have  dealt  very 
summarily  with  theories,  ancient  or  modern,  which 
serve  no  purpose  but  to  fortify  men  against  the  pressure 
of  these  facts.  He  would  not  have  taken  excessive 
pains  to  put  himself  in  the  speculator's  place,  and  see 
the  world  as  he  sees  it,  with  the  most  stupendous 
realities  left  out ;  he  would  not  have  flattered  with 
any  affected  admiration  that  most  self-complacent  of 
mortals — the  wise  of  this  world.  He  would  have 
struck  straight  at  the  heart  and  conscience  with  the 
spiritual  weapons  of  the  Gospel ;  he  would  have  spoken 
of  sin  and  judgment,  of  reconciliation  and  life  in  Christ, 
till  these  great  realities  had  asserted  their  greatness 
in  the  mind,  and  in  doing  so  had  shattered  the 
proud  intellectual  structures  which  had  been  reared 
m  ignorance  or  contempt  of  them.  ''Thoughts"  and 
"  imaginations  "  must  yield  to  things,  and  make  room 
for  them  :  it  was  on  this  principle  Paul  wrought.  And 
to  *'  thoughts  "  or  "  imaginations "  he  adds  ''  every 
high  thing  [{^-v/rw^a]  that  exalts  itself  against  the 
knowledge  of  God."  The  emphasis  is  on  "  every " ; 
the  Apostle  generalises  the  opposition  which  he  has  to 
encounter.     It  may  not  be  so  much  in  the  "  thoughts  " 


X.  1-6.]  WAR  297 

of  men,  as  in  their  tempers,  that  they  fortify  themselves. 
Pride,  which  by  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  sees  at 
once  to  the  heart  of  the  Gospel,  and  closes  itself  against 
it;  which  hates  equally  the  thought  of  absolute  indebted- 
ness to  God  and  the  thought  of  standing  on  the  same 
level  with  others  in  God's  sight, — this  pride  raises  in 
every  part  of  our  nature  its  protest  against  the  great 
surrender.  It  is  implied  in  the  whole  structure  of  this 
passage  that  ''the  knowledge  of  God"  against  which 
every  high  thing  in  man  rises  defiantly  is  a  humbling 
knowledge.  In  other  words,  it  is  not  speculative 
merely,  but  has  an  ethical  significance,  which  the 
human  heart  is  conscious  of  even  at  a  distance,  and 
makes  ready  to  acknowledge  or  to  resist.  No  high 
thing  lifts  itself  up  in  us  against  a  mere  theorem — a 
doctrine  of  God  which  is  as  a  doctrine  in  algebra ;  it  is 
the  practical  import  of  knowing  God  which  excites  the 
rebellion  of  the  soul.  No  doubt,  for  the  Apostle,  the 
knowledge  of  God  was  synonymous  with  the  Gospel  : 
it  was  the  knowledge  of  His  glory  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ;  it  was  concentrated  in  the  Cross  and  the  Throne 
of  His  Son,  in  the  Atonement  and  the  Sovereignty 
of  Christ.  The  Apostle  had  to  beat  down  all  the 
barriers  by  which  men  closed  their  minds  against  this 
supreme  revelation  ;  he  had  to  win  for  these  stupendous 
facts  a  place  in  the  consciousness  of  humanity  answer- 
ing to  their  grandeur.  Their  greatness  made  him 
great :  he  was  lifted  up  on  them;  and  though  he  walked 
in  the  flesh,  in  weakness  and  fear  and  much  trembling, 
he  could  confront  undaunted  the  pride  and  the  wisdom 
of  the  world,  and  compel  them  to  acknowledge  his 
Lord. 

This  meaning  is  brought  out  more  precisely  in  the 
words    with    which    he    continues — '*  bringing    every 


298     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

thought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of  Christ."  If  we 
suppose  a  special  reference  here  to  the  Corinthians,  it 
will  be  natural  to  take  vorjfia  (''  thought ")  in  a  practical 
sense — as,  e.g.,  in  chap.  ii.  11,  where  it  is  rendered 
''devices.*'  The  Corinthians  had  notions  of  their  own, 
apparently,  about  how  a  Church  should  be  regulated — 
wild,  undisciplined,  disorderly  notions ;  and  in  the 
absence  of  the  Apostle  they  were  experimenting  with 
them  freely.  It  is  part  of  his  work  to  catch  these  run- 
away thoughts,  and  make  them  obedient  to  Christ  again. 
It  seems,  however,  much  more  natural  to  allow  the  wider 
reference  of  alxf^ctXcoTL^ovre^  to  the  whole  of  Paul's 
apostolic  work ;  and  then  vorjfia  also  will  be  taken  in 
a  less  restricted  sense.  Men's  minds,  and  all  that  goes 
on  in  their  minds  (vorj/jLara  covers  both :  see  chaps,  ii. 
II,  iii.  14,  iv.  4),  are  by  nature  lawless:  they  are 
without  the  sense  of  responsibility  to  guard  and  con- 
secrate the  sense  of  freedom.  When  the  Gospel  makes 
them  captive,  this  lawless  liberty  comes  to  an  end. 
The  mind,  in  all  its  operations,  comes  under  law  to 
Christ :  in  its  every  thought  it  is  obedient  to  Him. 
The  supremacy  which  Christ  claims  and  exercises  is 
over  the  whole  nature  :  the  Christian  man  feels  that 
nothing — not  even  a  thought — lies  beyond  the  range  in 
which  obedience  is  due  to  Him.  This  practical  con- 
viction will  not  paralyse  thinking  in  the  very  least,  but 
it  will  extinguish  many  useless  and  bad  thoughts,  and 
give  their  due  value  to  all. 

The  Apostle  descends  unmistakably  from  the  general 
to  the  particular  in  ver.  6:  **  Being  in  readiness  to 
avenge  all  disobedience,  when  your  obedience  is  ful- 
filled." Apparently  what  he  contemplates  in  Corinth 
is  a  disobedience  which  in  part  at  least  will  refuse  to 
surrender  to  Christ.     There  is  a  spirit  abroad   there. 


X.  1-6.]  WAR  299 

in  the  Judaists  especially,  and  in  those  whom  they 
have  influenced,  which  will  not  bend,  and  must  be 
broken.  How  Paul  means  to  take  vengeance  on  it,  he 
does  not  say.  He  is  confident  himself  that  the  divinely 
powerful  weapons  which  he  wields  will  enable  him  to 
master  it,  and  that  is  enough.  Whatever  the  shape 
the  disobedience  may  assume, — hostility  to  the  Gospel 
of  Paul,  as  subversive  of  the  law ;  hostility  to  his 
apostolic  claims,  as  unequal  to  those  of  the  Twelve ; 
hostility  to  the  practical  authority  he  asserted  in 
Churches  of  his  founding,  and  to  the  moral  ideals  he 
established  there, — whatever  the  face  which  opposition 
may  present,  he  declares  himself  ready  to  humble  it. 
One  limitation  only  he  imposes  on  himself — he  will  do 
this,  "  when  the  obedience  of  the  Corinthians  is  ful- 
filled." He  expressly  distinguishes  the  Church  as  a 
whole  from  those  who  represent  or  constitute  the  dis- 
obedient party.  There  have  been  misunderstandings 
between  the  Church  and  himself;  but  as  chaps,  i.  to  vii. 
show,  these  have  been  so  far  overcome :  the  body  of 
the  Church  has  reconciled  itself  to  its  founder ;  it  has 
returned,  so  to  speak,  to  its  allegiance  to  Paul,  and  has 
busied  itself  in  carrying  out  his  will.  When  this  pro- 
cess, at  present  only  in  course,  is  completed,  his  way 
will  be  clear.  He  will  be  able  to  act  with  severity  and 
decision  against  those  who  have  troubled  the  Church, 
without  running  any  risk  of  hurting  the  Church  itself. 
This  leads  again  to  the  reflection  that,  with  all  his  high 
consciousness  of  spiritual  power,  with  all  his  sense  of 
personal  wrong,  the  most  remarkable  characteristic  of 
Paul  is  love.  He  waits  to  the  last  moment  before  he 
resorts  to  severer  measures ;  and  he  begs  those  who 
may  suffer  from  them,  begs  them  by  the  meekness  and 
gentleness  of  Christ,  to  spare  him  such  pain. 


XXIII 

COMPARISONS 

"  Ye  look  at  the  things  that  are  before  your  face.  If  any  man 
trusteth  in  himself  that  he  is  Christ's,  let  him  consider  this  again 
with  himself,  that,  even  as  he  is  Christ's,  so  also  are  we.  For  though 
I  should  glory  somewhat  abundantly  concerning  our  authority  (which 
the  Lord  gave  for  building  you  up,  and  not  for  casting  you  down), 

1  shall  not  be  put  to  shame :  that  I  may  not  seem  as  if  I  would  terrify 
you  by  my  letters.  For,  His  letters,  they  say,  are  weighty  and 
strong ;  but  his  bodily  presence  is  weak,  and  his  speech  of  no 
account.  Let  such  a  one  reckon  this,  that,  what  we  are  in  word  by 
letters  when  we  are  absent,  such  are  we  also  in  deed  when  we  are 
present.  For  we  are  not  bold  to  number  or  compare  ourselves  with 
certain  of  them  that  commend  themselves  :  but  they  themselves, 
measuring  themselves  by  themselves,  and  comparing  themselves  with 
themselves,  are  without  understanding.  But  we  will  not  glory 
beyond  our  measure,  but  according  to  the  measure  of  the  province 
which  God  apportioned  to  us  as  a  measure,  to  reach  even  unto  you. 
For  we  stretch  not  ourselves  overmuch,  as  though  we  reached  not 
unto  you :  for  we  came  even  as  far  as  unto  you  in  the  Gospel  of 
Christ :  not  glorying  beyond  our  measure,  that  is,  in  other  men's 
labours ;  but  having  hope  that,  as  your  faith  groweth,  we  shall  be 
magnified  in  you  according  to  our  province  unto  further  abundance, 
so  as  to  preach  the  Gospel  even  unto  the  parts  beyond  you,  and  not  to 
glory  in  another's  province  in  regard  of  things  ready  to  our  hand. 
But  he  that  glorieth,  let  him  glory  in  the  Lord.  For  not  he  that 
commendeth  himself  is  approved,  but  whom  the  Lord  commendeth." — 

2  Cor.  X.  7-18  (R.V.). 

THIS  passage  abounds  with  grammatical  and  textual 
difficulties,  but  the  general  import  and  the  purpose 
of  it  are  plain.  The  self-assertion  of  avro^  e^o)  TIavko<; 
(ver.  i)  receives  its  first  interpretation  and  expansion 

300 


7- 1 8.]  COMPARISONS  301 


here :  we  see  what  it  is  that  Paul  claims,  and  we  begin 
to  see  the  nature  of  the  opposition  against  which  his 
claim  has  to  be  made  good.  Leaving  questions  of 
grammatical  construction  aside,  vv.  7  and  8  define  the 
situation ;  and  it  is  convenient  to  take  them  as  if  they 
stood  alone. 

There  was  a  person  in  Corinth — more  than  one 
indeed,  but  one  in  particular,  as  the  rt?  in  ver.  7  and 
the  singular  (prjalv^  in  ver.  10  suggest — who  claimed  to 
be  Christ's,  or  of  Christ,  in  a  sense  which  disparaged 
and  was  meant  to  disparage  Paul.  If  we  use  the  plural, 
to  include  them  all,  we  must  not  suppose  that  they  are 
identical  with  the  party  in  the  Church  who  are  censured 
in  the  First  Epistle  for  saying,  "  I  am  of  Christ,"  just 
as  others  said,  ''  I  am  of  Paul,"  "I  am  of  Apollos,"  "  I 
am  of  Cephas."  That  party  may  have  been  dependent 
upon  them,  but  the  individuals  here  referred  to  are 
taxed  with  an  exclusiveness  and  arrogance,  and  in  the 
close  of  the  chapter  with  a  wanton  trespassing  on 
Paul's  province,  which  show  that  they  were  not  native 
to  the  Church,  but  intruders  into  it.  They  were  con- 
fident that  they  were  Christ's  in  a  sense  which  dis- 
credited Paul's  apostleship,  and  entitled  them,  so  to 
speak,  to  legitimate  a  Church  which  his  labours  had 
called  into  being.  Everything  compels  us  to  recognise 
in  them  Jewish  Christians,  who  had  been  connected 
with  Christ  in  a  way  in  which  Paul  had  not ;  who  had 
known  Him  in  the  flesh,  or  had  brought  recommendatory 
letters  from  the  Mother  Church  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  who, 
on  the  strength  of  these  accidents,  gave  themselves  airs 
of  superiority  in  Pauline  Churches,  and  corrupted  the 
simplicity  of  the  Pauline  Gospel. 

'  This  is  the  reading  adopted    by  Westcott  and  Hort  with  most 
MSS.  except  B. 


302     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

The  first  words  in  ver.  7 — Ta  Kara  TrpoacoTrov  /SXeTrere 
— are  no  doubt  directed  to  this  situation,  but  they  have 
been  very  variously  rendered.  Our  Authorised  Version 
has,  **  Do  ye  look  on  things  after  the  outward  appear- 
ance ?  "  That  is,  "Are  you  really  imposed  upon  by  the 
pretensions  of  these  men,  by  their  national  and  carnal 
distinctions,  as  if  these  had  anything  to  do  with  the 
Gospel  ?  "  This  is  a  good  Pauline  idea,  but  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  ra  Kara  irpoacoTrov  can  yield  it.  The  natural 
sense  of  these  words  is,  "What  is  before  your  face." 
The  Revised  Version  accordingly  renders,  "Ye  look 
at  the  things  that  are  before  your  face " :  meaning, 
apparently,  "You  allow  yourselves  to  be  carried  away 
by  whatever  is  nearest  to  you — at  present,  by  these  inter- 
loping Jews,  and  the  claims  they  flaunt  before  your  eyes." 
It  seems  to  me  more  natural,  with  many  good  scholars, 
to  take  ^XeVere,  in  spite  of  its  unemphatic  position,  as 
imperative  :  "  Look  at  the  things  which  are  before  your 
faces !  The  most  obvious  and  palpable  facts  discredit 
these  Judaists  and  accredit  me.  A  claim  to  be  Christ's 
is  not  to  be  made  out  a  priori  by  any  carnal  prerogatives, 
or  any  human  recommendations;  it  is  only  made  out 
by  this — that  Christ  Himself  attests  it  by  giving  him 
who  makes  it  success  as  an  evangehst.  Look  at  what 
confronts  you !  There  is  not  a  single  Christian  thing 
you  see  which  is  not  Christ's  own  testimony  that  I  am 
His ;  unless  you  are  senseless  and  blind,  my  position 
and  authority  as  an  apostle  can  never  be  impugned 
among  you."  The  argument  is  thus  the  same  as  that 
which  he  uses  in  chap.  iii.  1-3,  and  in  the  First  Epistle, 
chap.  ix.  2. 

At  first  Paul  asserts  only  a  bare  equivalence  to  his 
Jewish  opponent :  "  Let  him  consider  this  with  himself, 
that,    even   as   he   is    Christ's,    so  also  are  we."     The 


X.  7-1 8.]  COMPARISONS  303 

historical,  outward  connexion  with  Christ,  whatever  it 
may  have  been,  amounted  in  this  relation  to  exactly 
nothing  at  all.  Not  what  Christ  was,  but  what  He  is, 
is  the  life  and  reality  of  the  Christian  religion.  Not  an 
accidental  acquaintance  with  Him  as  He  lived  in  Galilee 
or  Jerusalem,  but  a  spiritual  fellowship  with  Him  as 
He  reigns  in  the  heavenly  places,  makes  a  Christian. 
Not  a  letter  written  by  human  hands — though  they 
should  be  the  hands  of  Peter  or  James  or  John — legiti- 
mates a  man  in  the  apostolic  career ;  but  only  the 
sovereign  voice  which  says,  ''  He  is  a  chosen  vessel  unto 
Me,  to  bear  My  Name."  Neither  as  Christian  nor  as 
apostle  can  one  establish  a  monopoly  by  making  his 
appeal  to  "  the  flesh."  The  application  of  this  Christian 
truth  has  constantly  to  be  made  anew,  for  human  nature 
loves  a  monopoly ;  it  does  not  seem  really  to  have  a 
thing,  unless  its  possession  of  it  is  exclusive.  We  are 
all  too  ready  to  unchurch,  or  unchristianise,  others  ;  to 
say,  '*  We  are  Christ's,"  with  an  emphasis  which  means 
that  others  are  not.  Churches  with  a  strong  organi- 
sation are  especially  tempted  to  this  unchristian 
narrowness  and  pride.  Their  members  think  almost 
instinctively  of  other  Christians  as  outsiders  and  in- 
feriors ;  they  would  like  to  take  them  in,  to  reordain 
their  ministers,  to  reform  their  constitution,  to  give 
validity  to  their  sacraments — in  one  word,  to  legitimate 
them  as  Christians  and  as  Christian  societies.  All  this 
is  mere  unintelligence  and  arrogance.  Legitimacy  is 
a  convenient  and  respectable  political  fiction  ;  but  to 
make  the  constitution  of  any  Christian  body,  which  has 
developed  under  the  pressure  of  historical  exigences, 
the  law  for  the  legitimation  of  Christian  life,  ministry, 
and  worship  everywhere,  is  to  deny  the  essential  cha- 
racter of  the  Christian  religion.     It  is  to  play  toward 


304     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 


men  whom  Christ  has  legitimated  by  His  Spirit,  and  by 
His  blessing  on  their  work,  precisely  the  part  which  the 
Judaisers  played  toward  Paul  ;  and  to  compromise  with 
it  is  to  betray  Christ,  and  to  renounce  the  freedom  of 
the  Spirit. 

But  the  Apostle  does  not  stop  short  with  claiming  a 
bare  equality  with  his  rivals.  "  For  though  ^  I  should 
boast  somewhat  more  abundantly  concerning  our 
authority  ...  I  shall  not  be  put  to  shame" — i.e.^  "  The 
facts  I  have  invited  you  to  look  at  will  bear  me  out." 
The  key  to  this  passage  is  to  be  found  in  i  Cor.  xv.  15, 
where  he  boasts  that,  though  the  least  of  the  apostles, 
and  not  worthy  to  be  called  an  apostle,  he  had,  through 
the  grace  of  God  given  to  him,  laboured  more  abundantly 
than  all  the  rest.  If  it  came  to  comparison,  then,  of 
the  attestation  which  Christ  gave  to  their  several  labours, 
and  so  to  their  authority,  by  success  in  evangelising,  it 
would  not  be  Paul  who  would  have  to  hide  his  head.  But 
he  does  not  choose  to  boast  any  more  of  his  authority 
at  this  point.  He  has  no  desire  to  clothe  himself  in 
terrors  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  wishes  to  avoid  ^  the  very 
appearance  of  scaring  them  out  of  their  wits  by  his 
letters  (for  iK(j)o^€2v  compare  Mark  ix.  6  ;  Heb.  xii.  21). 
His  authority  has  been  given  him,  not  for  the  pulling 
down,  but  for  the  building  up,  of  the  Church ;  it  is  not 
lordly    (chap.    i.    24),    but  ministerial ;   and    he  would 


1  The  difficult  re  in  Hv  re  yap  is  most  easily  explained  by  the 
ellipse  of  a  corresponding  Kai ;  of  several  reasons  he  might  adduce, 
Paul  adduces  only  one  (Schmiedel). 

2  The  ninth  verse,  "Im  firi  do^co  k.t.\.,  is  most  naturally  taken  with 
what  precedes,  and  most  simply  explained  by  supplying  something 
like,  "  but  I  say  no  more  about  it,  i.e.  about  my  authority,  that  I  may 
not  seem,"  etc.  To  say  more  would  look  like  trying  to  frighten  them. 
Others  make  it  protasis  to  ver.  1 1,  ver.  10  being  then  a  parenthesis. 


x.7-18.]  COMPARISONS  305 

wish,  not  only  to  show  it  in  kindly  service,  but  also  in 
a  kindly  aspect.  "  Not  for  casting  down,"  in  ver.  8,  is 
no  contradiction  of"  mighty  for  casting  down  "  in  ver.  4  : 
the  object  in  the  two  cases  is  quite  different.  Many 
tilings  in  man  must  be  cast  down — many  high  thoughts, 
much  pride,  much  wilfulness,  much  presumption  and 
sufficiency — but  the  casting  down  of  these  is  the  building 
up  of  souls. 

At  this  point  comes  what  is  logically  a  parenthesis, 
and  we  hear  in  it  the  criticisms  passed  at  Corinth  on 
Paul,  and  his  own  reply  to  them.  "  His  letters,"  they 
say  (or,  he  says),  "  are  weighty  and  strong ;  but  his 
bodily  presence  weak,  and  his  speech  of  no  account." 
The  last  part  of  this  criticism  has  been  much  misunder- 
stood ;  it  is  really  of  moral  import,  but  has  been  read 
in  a  physical  sense.  It  does  not  say  anything  at  all 
about  the  Apostle's  physique,  or  about  his  eloquence 
or  want  of  eloquence  ;  it  tells  us  that  (according  to 
these  critics),  when  he  was  actually  present  at  Corinth, 
he  was  somehow  or  other  ineffective  ;  and  when  he 
spoke  there,  people  simply  disregarded  him.  An 
uncertain  tradition  no  doubt  represents  Paul  as  an 
infirm  and  meagre  person,  and  it  is  easy  to  believe  that 
to  Greeks  he  must  sometimes  have  seemed  embarrassed 
and  incoherent  in  speech  to  the  last  degree  (what, 
for  instance,  could  have  seemed  more  formless  to  a 
Greek  than  vv.  12-18  of  this  chapter?):  nevertheless, 
it  is  nothing  like  this  which  is  in  view  here.  The 
criticism  is  not  of  his  physique,  nor  of  his  style,  but 
of  his  personality — what  is  described  is  not  his  appear- 
ance nor  his  eloquence,  but  the  effect  which  the  man 
produced  when  he  went  to  Corinth  and  spoke.  It 
was  nothing.  As  a  man,  bodily  present,  he  could  get 
nothing  done  :  he  talked,  and  nobody  listened.     It  is 

20 


3o6     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

implied  that  this  criticism  is  false ;  and  Paul  bids 
any  one  who  makes  it  consider  that  what  he  is  in 
word  by  letters  when  he  is  absent,  that  he  will  also 
be  in  deed  when  he  is  present.  The  double  role 
of  potent  pamphleteer  and  ineffective  pastor  is  not 
for  him. 

The  kind  of  criticism  which  was  here  passed  on  St. 
Paul  is  one  to  which  every  preacher  is  obnoxious.  An 
epistle  is,  so  to  speak,  the  man's  words  without  the 
man ;  and  such  is  human  weakness,  that  they  are  often 
stronger  than  the  man  speaking  in  bodily  presence,  that 
is,  than  the  man  and  his  words  together.  The  character 
of  the  speaker,  as  it  were,  discounts  all  he  says  ;  and 
when  he  is  there,  and  delivers  his  message  in  person, 
the  message  itself  suffers  an  immense  depreciation. 
This  ought  not  so  to  be,  and  with  a  man  who  cultivates 
sincerity  will  not  so  be.  He  will  be,  himself,  as  good 
as  his  words ;  his  effectiveness  will  be  the  same 
whether  he  writes  or  speaks.  Nothing  ultimately 
counts  in  the  work  of  a  Christian  minister  but  what 
he  can  say  and  do  and  get  done  when  in  direct  contact 
with  living  men.  In  many  cases  the  modern  sermon 
really  answers  to  the  epistle  as  it  is  referred  to  in 
this  sarcastic  comment ;  in  the  pulpit,  people  say,  the 
minister  is  impressive  and  memorable ;  but  in  the 
ordinary  intercourse  of  life,  and  even  in  the  pastoral 
relation,  where  he  has  to  meet  people  on  an  equal 
footing,  his  power  quite  disappears.  He  is  an  ineffective 
person,  and  his  words  have  no  weight.  Where  this 
is  true,  there  is  something  very  far  wrong ;  and  though 
it  was  not  true  in  the  case  of  Paul,  there  are  cases 
in  which  it  is.  To  bring  the  pastoral  up  to  the  level 
of  the  pulpit  work — the  care  of  individual  souls  and 
characters  to  the   intensity  and  earnestness  of  study 


X.  7- 1 8.]  COMPARISONS  307 

and  preaching — would  be  the  saving  of  many  a  minister 
and  many  a  congregation.-' 

But  to  return  to  the  text.  The  Apostle  is  disinclined 
to  pursue  this  line  further  :  in  defending  himself  against 
these  obscure  detractors,  he  can  hardly  avoid  the 
appearance  of  self-commendation,  which  of  all  things 
he  abhors.  An  acute  observer  has  remarked  that  when 
war  lasts  long  the  opposing  combatants  borrow  each 
other's  weapons  and  tactics  :  and  it  was  this  uninviting 
weapon  that  the  policy  of  his  opponents  laid  to  the 
Apostle's  hand.  With  ironical  recognition  of  their 
hardihood,  he  declines  it:  "  We  are  not  bold — have  not 
the  courage — to  number  ourselves  among,  or  compare 
ourselves  with,  certain  of  them  that  commend  them- 
selves"— i.e.,  the  Judaists  who  had  introduced  them- 
selves to  the  Church.  **  Far  be  it  from  me,"  says  the 
Apostle  grimly,  '*  to  claim  a  place  among,  or  near,  such 
a  distinguished  company."  But  he  is  too  much  in 
earnest  to  prolong  the  ironical  strain,  and  in  the  verses 
which  follow,  from  12  to  16,  he  states  in  good  set 
terms  the  differences  between  himself  and  them, 
(i)  They  measure  themselves  by  themselves,  and  com- 
pare themselves  among  themselves,  and  in  so  doing  are 
without  understanding.^  They  constitute  a  religious 
coterie,  a  sort  of  clique  or  ring  in  the  Church,  ignoring 
all  but  themselves,  making  themselves  the  only  standard 

'  The  following  sentence  from  a  letter  of  H.  E.  M.  (a  sister  of 
James  Mozley's)  is  an  interesting  illustration  of  this  truth  :  "I  con- 
sider Mr.  Rickards  as  the  type  and  model  of  a  country  parish  and 
domestic  priest.  All  his  powers  and  energies  are  expended  on  and 
exerted  for  teaching,  preaching,  and  talking.  Bodily  presence  is  his 
vocation  :  unlike  some,  writers  and  others,  he  must  be  seen  to  be  felt ; 
and  unlike  others  again,  writers  and  others,  the  more  he  is  seen,  the 
more  he  is  felt." 

*  See  note,  p.  311. 


3o8     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

of  what  is  Christian,  and  betraying,  by  that  very  pro- 
ceeding, their  want  of  sense.  There  is  a  fine  Hberahty 
about  this  sharp  saying,  and  it  is  as  necessary  now  as 
in  the  first  century.  Men  coalesce,  within  the  limits 
of  the  Christian  community,  from  affinities  of  various 
kinds — sympathy  for  a  type  or  an  aspect  of  doctrine, 
or  liking  for  a  form  of  polity ;  and  as  it  is  easy,  so  is  it 
common,  for  those  who  have  drifted  like  to  like,  to  set 
up  their  own  associations  and  preferences  as  the  only 
law  and  model  for  all.  They  take  the  air  of  superior 
persons,  and  the  penalty  of  the  superior  person  is  to  be 
unintelligent.  They  are  without  understanding.  The 
standard  of  the  coterie — be  it  "evangelical,"  ''high 
church,"  ''broad  church,"  or  what  you  please — is  not 
the  standard  of  God  ;  and  to  measure  all  things  by  it  is 
not  only  sinful  but  stupid.  In  contrast  to  this  Judaistic 
clique,  who  saw  no  Christianity  except  under  their  own 
colours,  Paul's  standard  is  to  be  found  in  the  actual 
working  of  God  through  the  Gospel.  He  would  have 
said  with  Ignatius,  only  with  a  deeper  insight  into 
every  word,  "  Where  Jesus  Christ  is,  there  is  the  Catholic 
Church."  (2)  Another  point  of  difference  is  this  :  Paul 
works  independently  as  an  evangelist ;  it  has  always 
been  his  rule  to  break  new  ground.  God  has  assigned 
him  a  province  to  labour  in,  large  enough  to  gratify 
the  highest  ambition;  he  is  not  going  beyond  it,  nor 
exaggerating  his  authority,  when  he  asserts  his  apostolic 
dignity  in  Corinth ;  the  Corinthians  know  as  well  as 
he  that  he  came  all  the  way  to  them,  and  was  the  first 
to  come,  ministering  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Nay,  it  is 
only  the  weakness  of  their  faith  that  keeps  him  from 
going  farther  :  and  he  has  hope  that  as  their  faith 
grows  it  will  set  him  free  to  carry  the  Gospel  beyond 
them  to  Italy  and  Spain ;    this  would  be  the   crown 


X.7-I8.]  COMPARISONS  309 

of  his  greatness  as  an  evangelist,  and  it  depends  on 
them  (eV  vix'tv  fjLeyaXvi'dPjvat)  whether  he  is  to  win  it ; 
in  any  ease,  the  winning  of  it  would  be  in  harmony 
with  his  vocation,  the  carrying  of  it  out  in  glorious 
fulness  (^Kara  rov  Kavova  et?  irepiaaelav)  ;  for,  like  John 
Wesley,  he  could  say  the  whole  world  was  his  parish. 
If  he  boasts  at  all,  it  is  not  immeasurably ;  it  is  on  the 
basis  of  the  gift  and  calling  of  God,  within  the  limits 
of  what  God  has  wrought  by  him  and  by  no  other ;  he 
never  intrudes  into  another's  province  and  boasts  of 
what  he  finds  done  to  his  hand.  But  this  was  what 
the  Jews  did.  They  did  not  propagate  the  Gospel  with 
apostolic  enthusiasm  among  the  heathen ;  they  waited 
till  Paul  had  done  the  hard  preliminary  work,  and 
formed  Christian  congregations  everywhere,  and  then 
they  slunk  into  them — in  Galatia,  in  Macedonia,  in 
Achaia — talking  as  if  these  Churches  were  t/ieir  work, 
disparaging  their  real  father  in  Christ,  and  claiming  to 
complete  and  legitimate — which  meant,  in  effect,  to 
subvert — his  w^ork.  No  wonder  Paul  was  scornful, 
and  did  not  venture  to  put  himself  in  a  line  with  such 
heroes. 

Two  feelings  are  compounded  all  through  this  passage : 
an  intense  sympathy  with  the  purpose  of  God  that  the 
Gospel  should  be  preached  to  every  creature — Paul's 
very  soul  melts  into  that ;  and  an  intense  scorn  for  the 
spirit  that  sneaks  and  poaches  on  another's  ground, 
and  is  more  anxious  that  some  men  should  be  good 
sectarians  than  that  all  men  should  be  good  disciples. 
This  evil  spirit  Paul  loathes,  just  as  Christ  loathed  it ; 
the  temper  of  these  verses  is  that  in  which  the  Master 
cried,  "  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  ! 
for  ye  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte  ; 
and  when  he  is  become  so,  ye  make  him  twofold  more 


3IO     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIAN^ 

a  son  of  hell  than  yourselves."  Of  coarse  the  evil 
spirit  must  always  be  disguised,  both  from  others  and 
from  itself:  the  proselytiser  assumes  the  garb  of  the 
evangelist ;  but  the  proselytiser  turned  evangelist  is 
the  purest  example  in  the  world  of  Satan  disguised 
as  an  angel  of  light.  The  show  is  divine,  but  the 
reality  is  diabolical.  It  does  not  matter  what  the 
special  sectarianism  is :  the  proselytising  of  a  hier- 
archical Church,  and  the  proselytising  of  the  Plymouth 
Brethren,  are  alike  dishonourable  and  alike  condemned. 
And  the  safeguard  of  the  soul  against  this  base  spirit 
is  an  interest  like  Paul's  in  the  Christianising  of  those 
who  do  not  know  Christ  at  all.  Why  should  Churches 
compete  ?  why  should  their  agencies  overlap  ?  why 
should  they  steal  from  each  other's  folds  ?  why  should 
they  be  anxious  to  seal  all  believers  with  their  private 
seal,  when  the  whole  world  lies  in  wickedness  ?  That 
field  is  large  enough  for  all  the  efforts  of  all  evangelists, 
and  till  it  has  been  sown  with  the  good  seed  from  end 
to  end  there  can  be  nothing  but  reprobation  for  those 
who  trespass  on  the  province  of  others,  and  boast  that 
they  have  made  their  own  w^hat  they  certainty  did  not 
make  Christ's. 

At  the  close,  to  borrow  Bengel's  expression,  Paul 
sounds  a  retreat.  He  has  liberated  his  mind  about  his 
adversaries — always  a  more  or  less  dangerous  process ; 
and  after  the  excitement  and  self-assertion  are  over, 
he  composes  it  again  in  the  presence  of  God.  He 
checks  himself,  we  feel,  with  that  Old  Testament  word, 
"  Now  he  that  glorieth,  let  him  glory  in  the  Lord.  I 
have  always  broken  new  ground ;  I  have  come  as  far 
as  you,  and  wish  to  go  farther,  evangelising ;  I  never 
have  boasted  of  another  man's  labours  as  if  they  were 
mine,  or  claimed  the  credit  of  what  he  had  done  ;  but 


X.7-I8.]  COMPASSIONS  311 

all  this  is  mine  only  as  God's  gift.  It  is  His  grace 
bestowed  on  me,  and  not  in  vain.  1  would  not  boast 
except  in  Him  ;  for  not  he  who  commends  himself  is 
approved,  but  only  he  whom  the  Lord  commends." 
No  character  which  is  only  self-certificated  can  stand  the 
test :  no  claim  to  apostolic  dignity  and  authority  can  be 
maintained  which  the  Lord  does  not  attest  by  granting 
apostolic  success. 


Note  on  w.  12  and  13. — In  some  MSS.  (D*,  F,  G,  109,  It.,  and  some 
Latins)  the  last  two  words  of  ver.  12  and  the  first  two  of  ver.  13 
{oi)  (TvviacLV  Tj/xeh  84)  are  omitted.  Most  editors  of  the  text  (Tischdf. 
viii.,  Tregelles,  Westcott  and  Hort)  seem  to  think  the  omission 
accidental ;  among  exegetes,  the  fact  that  it  yields  an  easy  and 
natural,  though  of  course  a  quite  different,  sense,  has  caused  some 
hesitation.  Thus  Bengel,  and  recently  Schmiedel,  reject  the  words. 
The  latter  renders  the  whole  passage  :  "  We  do  not  venture  to  put 
ourselves  on  a  level,  or  to  compare  ourselves,  with  certain  of  those 
who  commend  themselves  ;  but  in  measuring  ourselves  by  ourselves, 
and  comparing  ourselves  with  ourselves,  we  shall  not  boast  beyond 
measure,  but  according  to  the  measure  of  the  rule,"  etc.  This  is  no 
doubt  intelligible  and  appropriate  enough,  and  certainly  one's  first 
impression  is  that  dW  avroi  in  ver.  12  ought  to  refer  to  Paul;  but 
as  the  meaning  yielded  by  the  passage  with  the  four  words  included 
is  equally  appropriate,  and  their  insertion  immeasurably  harder  to 
understand  than  their  omission,  it  seems  preferable  to  let  them 
stand,  in  the  sense  explained  above.  They  are  found  (with  the 
variation  of  avuiffacnv  for  (rvvidaiv  in  N*)  in  N**,  B,  minusc.  Theo- 
doret :  in  E,  K,  L,  P,  the  form  is  avvioDmv.  Apparently  it  is  only 
by  an  accident  that  their  omission  leaves  good  sense. 


XXIV 

GODLY  JEALOUSY 

"  Would  that  ye  could  bear  with  me  in  a  little  foolishness :  nay  indeed 
bear  with  me.  For  I  am  jealous  over  you  with  a  godly  jealousy :  for 
I  espoused  you  to  one  husband,  that  I  might  present  you  as  a  pure 
virgin  to  Christ.  But  I  fear,  lest  by  any  means,  as  the  serpent 
beguiled  Eve  in  his  craftiness,  your  minds  should  be  corrupted  from 
the  simplicity  and  the  purity  that  is  toward  Christ.  For  if  he  that 
Cometh  preacheth  another  Jesus,  whom  we  did  not  preach,  or  if  ye 
receive  a  different  spirit,  which  ye  did  not  receive,  or  a  different 
gospel,  which  ye  did  not  accept,  ye  do  well  to  bear  with  him.     For 

1  reckon  that  I  am  not  a  whit  behind  the  very  chiefest  apostles. 
But  though  /  be  rude  in  speech,  yet  am  I  not  in  knowledge ;  nay,  in 
everything  we  have  made  it  manifest  among  all  men  to  you-ward." — 

2  Cor.  xi.  i-6  (R.V.). 

ALL  through  the  tenth  chapter  there  is  a  conflict 
in  the  Apostle's  mind.  He  is  repeatedly,  as  it 
were,  on  the  verge  of  doing  something,  from  which 
he  as  often  draws  back.  He  does  not  like  to  boast — 
he  does  not  like  to  speak  of  himself  at  all — but  the 
tactics  of  his  enemies,  and  the  faithlessness  of  the 
Corinthians,  are  making  it  inevitable.  In  chap.  xi. 
he  takes  the  plunge.  He  adopts  the  poHcy  of  his 
adversaries,  and  proceeds  to  enlarge  on  his  services 
to  the  Church ;  but  with  magnificent  irony,  he  first 
assumes  the  mask  of  a  fool.  It  is  not  the  genuine 
Paul  who  figures  here ;  it  is  Paul  playing  a  part  to 
which  he  has  been  compelled  against  his  will,  acting 

312 


1-6.]  GODLY  JEALOUSY  313 


in  a  character  which  is  as  remote  as  possible  from  his 
own.  It  is  the  character  native  and  proper  to  the 
other  side ;  and  when  Paul,  with  due  deprecation, 
assumes  it  for  the  nonce,  he  not  only  preserves  his 
modesty  and  his  self-respect,  but  lets  his  opponents 
see  what  he  thinks  of  them.  He  plays  the  fool  for  the 
occasion,  and  of  set  purpose ;  they  do  it  always,  and 
without  knowing  it,  like  men  to  the  manner  born. 

But  it  is  the  Corinthians  who  are  directly  addressed. 
"  Would  that  ye  could  bear  with  me  in  a  little  foolish- 
ness :  nay  indeed  bear  with  me."  In  the  last  clause, 
ave^eaOe  may  be  either  imperative  (as  the  Revised 
Version  gives  it  in  the  text),  or  indicative  (as  in  the 
margin  :  **  but  indeed  ye  do  bear  with  me  ").  The  use 
of  aXKa  rather  favours  the  last ;  and  it  would  be  quite 
in  keeping  with  the  extremely  ironical  tone  of  the 
passage  to  render  it  so.  Even  in  the  First  Epistle, 
Paul  had  reflected  on  the  self-conceit  of  the  Corinthians  : 
"We  are  fools  for  Christ's  sake,  but  ye  are  wise  in 
Christ."  That  self-conceit  led  them  to  think  lightly 
of  him,  but  not  just  to  cast  him  off;  they  still  tolerated 
him  as  a  feeble  sort  of  person:  "Ye  do  indeed  bear 
with  me."  But  whichever  alternative  be  preferred,  the 
irony  passes  swiftly  into  the  dead  earnest  of  the  second 
verse:  "For  I  am  jealous  over  you  with  a  godly 
jealousy  :  for  I  espoused  you  to  one  husband,  that  I 
might  present  you  as  a  pure  virgin  to  Christ." 

This  is  the  ground  on  which  Paul  claims  their 
forbearance,  even  when  he  indulges  in  a  little  "  folly." 
If  he  is  guilty  of  what  seems  to  them  extravagance,  it  ' 
is  the  extravagance  of  jealousy — i.e.,  of  love  tormented 
by  fear.  Nor  is  it  any  selfish  jealousy,  of  which  he 
ought  to  be  ashamed.  He  is  not  anxious  about  his 
private   or   personal   interests  in  the   Church.     He  is 


314     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

not  humiliated  and  provoked  because  his  former  pupils 
have  come  to  their  spiritual  majority,  and  asserted  their 
independence  of  their  master.  These  are  common 
dangers  and  common  sins ;  and  every  minister  needs 
to  be  on  his  guard  against  them.  Paul's  jealousy  over 
the  Corinthians  was  "  a  jealousy  of  God " ;  God  had 
put  it  into  his  heart,  and  what  it  had  in  view  was  God's 
interest  in  them.  It  distressed  him  to  think,  not  that 
his  personal  influence  at  Corinth  was  on  the  wane, 
but  that  the  work  which  God  had  done  in  their  souls 
was  in  danger  of  being  frustrated,  the  inheritance 
He  had  acquired  in  them  of  being  lost.  Nothing  but 
God's  interest  had  been  in  the  Apostle's  mind  from 
the  beginning.  *'I  betrothed  you,"  he  says,  ''to  one 
husband  " — the  emphasis  lies  on  one — "  that  I  might 
present  you  as  a  pure  virgin  to  Christ."^ 

It  is  the  Church  collectively  which  is  represented 
by  the  pure  virgin,  and  it  ought  to  be  observed  that 
this  is  the  constant  use  in  Scripture,  alike  in  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New.  It  is  Israel  as  a  whole  which 
is  married  to  the  Lord ;  it  is  the  Christian  Church  as 
a  whole  (or  a  Church  collectively,  as  here)  which  is  the 
Bride,  the  Lamb's  wife.  To  individualise  the  figure, 
and  speak  of  Christ  as  the  Bridegroom  of  the  soul,  is 
not  Scriptural,  and  almost  always  misleads.  It  intro- 
duces the  language  and  the  associations  of  natural 
affection  into  a  region  where  they  are  entirely  out  of 
place;  we  have  no  terms  of  endearment  here,  and 
should  have  none,  but  high  thoughts  of  the  simplicity, 
the  purity,  and  the  glory  of  the  Church.  Glory  is 
especially  suggested    by  the  idea  of  ^^  pfesenting'^  the 


'   "  Woods,  trees,  meadows,  and  hills  are  my  witnesses  that  I  drew 
on  a  fair  match  betwixt  Christ  and  Anwoth." — S.  Rutherford 


xi.  1-6.]  GODLY  JEALOUSY  315 

Church  to  Christ.  The  presentation  takes  place  whenj 
Christ  comes  again  to  be  glorified  in  His  saints ;  that 
great  day  shines  unceasingly  in  the  Apostle's  heart, 
and  all  he  does  is  done  in  its  light.  The  infinite  issues 
of  fidelity  and  infidelity  to  the  Lord,  as  that  day  makes 
them  manifest,  are  ever  present  to  his  spirit ;  and  it  is 
this  which  gives  such  divine  intensity  to  his  feelings 
wherever  the  conduct  of  Christians  is  concerned.  He 
sees  everything,  not  as  dull  eyes  see  it  now,  but  as 
Christ  in  His  glory  will  show  it  then.  And  it  takes 
nothing  less  than  this  to  keep  the  soul  absolutely  pure 
and  lo3'al  to  the  Lord. 

The  Apostle  explains  in  the  third  verse  the  nature  of 
his  alarm.  '*  1  fear,"  he  says,  "lest  by  any  means,  as 
the  serpent  beguiled  Eve  in  his  craftiness,  your  minds 
should  be  corrupted  from  the  simplicity  [and  the  purity]^ 
which  is  toward  Christ."  The  whole  figure  is  very 
expressive.  "  Simplicity  "  means  singleness  of  mind  ; 
the  heart  of  the  "  pure  virgin  "  is  undivided  ;  she  ought 
not  to  have,  and  will  not  have,  a  thought  for  any  but 
the  "one  man  "  to  whom  she  is  betrothed.  "  Purity"  j 
again  is,  as  it  were,  one  species  of  "  simplicity  " ;  it  is  ' 
"simplicity"  as  shown  in  the  keeping  of  the  whole 
nature  unspotted  for  the  Lord.  What  Paul  dreads 
is  the  spiritual  seduction  of  the  Church,  the  winning 
away  of  her  heart  from  absolute  loyalty  to  Christ.  The 
serpent  beguiled  Eve  by  his  craftiness ;  he  took  advan- 
tage of  her  unsuspecting  innocence  to  wile  her  away 

'  The  words  koL  ttjs  ayu'jTt]Tos  are  bracketed  by  Westcott  and 
Hort.  They  are  very  strongly  attested  (by  X,  B,  F,  gr.,  G,  etc.) ;  but 
as  they  are  found  in  some  authorities  before,  instead  of  after,  ttjs 
a.Tr\6T7]Tos,  it  is  not  improbable  that  they  may  be  a  gloss  on  these 
last  words,  suggested  by  ayvrjv  in  vcr.  2,  and  incorporated  in  the  text. 
They  rather  blur  than  emphasise  the  thought. 


3i6     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

from  her  simple  belief  in  God  and  obedience  to  Him. 
When  she  took  into  her  mind  the  suspicions  he  raised, 
her  "  simplicity"  was  gone,  and  her  **  purity  "  followed. 
The  serpent's  agents — the  servants  of  Satan,  as  Paul 
calls  them  in  ver.  15 — are  at  work  in  Corinth;  and  he 
fears  that  their  craftiness  may  seduce  the  Church  from 
its  first  simple  loyalty  to  Christ.  It  is  natural  for  us 
to  take  aTrkoTT]^  and  a'^voTt)^  in  a  purely  ethical  sense, 
but  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  this  is  all  that  is 
meant ;  indeed,  if  KciX  Trj<;  ayvoTrjro';  be  a  gloss,  as 
seems  not  improbable,  aTrXor???  may  well  have  a  dif- 
ferent application.  '*  The  simplicity  which  is  toward 
Christ,"  from  which  he  fears  lest  by  any  means  '^  their 
mmds  "  or  ''  thoughts  "  be  corrupted,  will  rather  be  their 
whole-hearted  acceptance  of  Christ  as  Paul  conceived 
of  Him  and  preached  Him,  their  unreserved,  unquestion- 
ing surrender  to  that  form  of  doctrine  (jvirov  Sthaxri^} 
Rom.  vi.  17)  to  which  they  had  been  delivered.  This, 
of  course,  in  Paul's  mind,  involved  the  other — there  is 
no  separation  of  doctrine  and  practice  for  him  ;  but  it 
makes  a  theological  rather  than  an  ethical  interest  the 
predominant  one  ;  and  this  interpretation,  it  seems  to  me, 
coheres  best  with  what  follows,  and  with  the  whole  pre- 
occupation of  the  Apostle  in  this  passage.  The  people 
whose  influence  he  feared  were  not  unbelievers,  nor  were 
they  immoral ;  they  professed  to  be  Christians,  and 
indeed  better  Christians  than  Paul ;  but  their  whole  con- 
ception of  the  Gospel  was  at  variance  with  his ;  if  they 
made  way  at  Corinth,  his  work  would  be  undone.  The 
Gospel  which  he  preached  would  no  longer  have  that 
unsuspicious  acceptance  ;  the  Christ  whom  he  proclaimed 
would  no  longer  have  that  unwavering  loyalty ;  instead 
of  simplicity  and  purity,  the  heart  of  the  "  pure  virgin  " 
would  be  possessed  by  misgivings,  hesitations,  perhaps 


xi.  1-6.]  GODLY  JEALOUSY  317 

by  out-right  infidelity ;  his  hope  of  presenting  her  to 
Christ  on  the  great  day  would  be  gone. 

This  is  what  we  are  led  to  by  ver.  4,  one  of  the 
most  vexed  passages  in  the  New  Testament.  The 
text  of  the  last  word  is  uncertain  :  some  read  the  im- 
perfect dvelx^crOe  ;  others,  including  our  Revisers,  the 
present  avexeaOe.  The  last  is  the  better  attested,  and 
suits  best  the  connexion  of  thought.  The  interpretations 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes.  First,  there  are  those 
which  assume  that  the  suppositions  made  in  this  verse 
are  not  true.  This  is  evidently  the  intention  in  our 
Authorised  Version.  It  renders,  "  For  if  he  that  cometh 
preacheth  another  Jesus,  whom  we  have  not  preached, 
or  if  ye  receive  another  spirit,  which  ye  have  not  received, 
or  another  gospel,  which  ye  have  not  accepted,  ye  might 
well  bear  with  him^  But — we  must  interpolate — nothing 
of  this  sort  has  really  taken  place ;  for  Paul  counts 
himself  not  a  whit  inferior  to  the  very  chiefest  Apostles. 
No  one — not  even  Peter  or  James  or  John — could  have 
imparted  anything  to  the  Corinthians  which  Paul  had 
failed  to  impart ;  and  hence  their  spiritual  seduction,  no 
matter  how  or  by  whom  accomplished,  was  perfectly 
unreasonable  and  gratuitous.  This  interpretation,  with 
variations  in  detail  which  need  not  be  pursued,  is  repre- 
sented by  many  of  the  best  expositors,  from  Chrysostom 
to  Meyer.  "  If,"  says  Chrysostom  in  his  paraphrase, 
"  if  we  had  omitted  anything  that  should  have  been 
said,  and  they  had  made  up  the  omission,  we  do  not 
forbid  you  to  attend  to  them.  But  if  everything  has 
been  perfectly  done  on  our  part,  and  no  blank  left,  how 
did  they  [the  Apostle's  adversaries]  get  hold  of  you  ?  " 
This  is  the  broad  result  of  many  discussions ;  and  it 
is  usual — though  not  invariable — for  those  who  read 
the  passage  thus  to  take  twv  virepklav  aTroaroXcov  in 


3i8     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

a  complimentary,  not  a  contemptuous,  sense,  and  to 
refer  it,  as  Chrysostom  expressly  does,  to  the  three 
pillars  of  the  primitive  Church. 

The  objections  to  this  interpretation  are  obvious 
enough.  There  is  first  the  grammatical  objection,  that 
a  hypothetical  sentence,  with  the  present  indicative  in 
the  protasis  (el  .  .  .  /crjpixraeif  el  .  .  .  Xa/jL^dvere),  and 
the  present  indicative  in  the  apodosis  (dvex^crOe),  can 
by  no  plausibility  of  argument  be  made  to  mean,  ''  If 
the  interloper  were  preaching  another  Jesus  .  ,  .  you 
would  be  right  to  bear  with  him."  Even  if  the  imperfect 
is  the  true  reading,  which  is  improbable,  this  translation 
is  unjustified.^  But  there  is  a  logical  as  well  as  a 
grammatical  objection.  The  use  of  yap  (''  for  ")  surely 
implies  that  in  the  sentence  which  it  introduces  we 
are  to  find  the  reason  for  what  precedes.  Paul  is 
afraid,  he  has  told  us,  lest  the  Church  should  be 
seduced  from  the  one  husband  to  whom  he  has 
betrothed  her.  But  he  can  never  mean  to  explain  a 
real  fear  by  making  a  number  of  imaginary  sup- 
positions ;  and  so  we  must  find  in  the  hypothetical 
clauses  here  the  real  grounds  of  his  alarm.  People 
had  come  to  Corinth — 6  ep^j^oyttew?  is  no  doubt  collective, 

'  It  is  worth  appending  two  ingenious  notes  on  this.  Bengel,  who 
holds  that  the  suppositions  are  untrue,  says:  "Ponit  conditionem, 
ex  parte  rei,  impossibilem ;  ideo  dicit  in  imperfecto  toleraretis :  sed 
pro  conatu  pseudo-apostolorum,  non  modo  possibilem,  sed  plane 
praesentem  ;  ideo  dicit  in  prsesenti,  prcedicat.''''  Schmiedel,  who  holds 
that  the  suppositions  are  true,  explains  the  impft.  by  saying  that 
Paul  resolved,  while  dictating,  to  add  the  apodosis  in  the  historical 
tense  to  the  timeless  protasis,  because  the  fact  which  it  described 
actually  lay  before  him.  They  were  tolerating  the  other  teachers : 
that  is  why  Paul  says  dveix^ade.  He  happily  compares  Plato,  Apol., 
33  A. :  EZ  Se  ris  fiov  XeyoPTOs  .  .  .  iiridv/xei  aKoieiv  .  .  .  ovdevl  wuwore 
i^ddvTjaa.     Still,  he  prefers  the  present. 


xi.  1-6.]  GODLY  JEALOUSY  319 

and  characterises  the  troublersof  the  Church  as  intruders, 
not  native  to  it,  but  separable  from  it — doing  all  the 
things  here  supposed.  Paul  has  espoused  the  Church 
to  One  Husband  ;  they  preach  another  Jesus.  Not, 
of  course,  a  distinct  Person,  but  certainly  a  distinct 
conception  of  the  same  Person.  Paul's  Christ  was  the 
Son  of  God,  the  Lord  of  Glory,  He  who  by  His  death 
on  the  cross  became  Universal  Redeemer,  and  by 
His  ascension  Universal  Lord — the  end  of  the  law, 
the  giver  of  the  Spirit ;  it  would  be  another  Jesus  if 
the  intruders  preached  only  the  Son  of  David,  or  the 
Carpenter  of  Nazareth,  or  the  King  of  Israel.  Accord- 
ing to  the  conception  of  Christ,  too,  would  be  ''  the 
spirit "  which  accompanied  this  preaching,  the  charac- 
teristic temper  and  power  of  the  religion  it  proclaimed. 
The  spirit  ministered  by  Paul  in  his  apostolic  work 
was  one  of  power,  and  love,  and,  above  all  things, 
liberty  ;  it  emancipated  the  soul  from  weakness,  from 
scruples,  from  moral  inability,  from  slavery  to  sin  and 
law ;  but  the  spirit  generated  by  the  Judaising  ministry, 
the  characteristic  temper  of  the  religion  it  proclaimed, 
was  servile  and  cowardly.  It  was  a  spirit  of  bondage 
tending  always  to  fear  (Rom.  viii.  15).  Their  whole 
gospel — to  give  their  preaching  a  name  it  did  not 
deserve  (Gal.  i.  6-9) — was  something  entirely  unlike 
Paul's  both  in  its  ideas  and  in  its  spiritual  fruits. 
Unlike — yes,  and  immeasurably  inferior,  and  yet  in 
spite  of  this  the  Corinthians  put  up  with  it  well  enough. 
This  is  the  plain  fact  {avex'^aOe)  which  the  Apostle 
plainly  states.  He  had  to  plead  for  their  toleration, 
but  they  had  no  difficulty  in  tolerating  men  who  by 
a  spurious  gospel,  an  unspiritual  conception  of  Christ, 
and  an  unworthy  incapacity  for  understanding  freedom, 
were  undermining  his  work,  and  seducing  their  souls. 


320     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

No  wonder  he  was  jealous,  and  angry,  and  scornful, 
when  he  saw  the  true  Christian  religion,  which  has 
all  time  and  all  nations  for  its  inheritance,  in  danger 
of  being  degraded  into  a  narrow  Jewish  sectarianism  ; 
the  kingdom  of  the  Spirit  lost  in  a  society  in  which 
race  gave  a  prerogative,  and  carnal  ordinances  were 
revived  ;  and,  worse  still,  Christ  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Universal  Reconciler,  known  only  ''after  the  flesh," 
and  appropriated  to  a  race,  instead  of  being  exalted 
as  Lord  of  all,  in  whom  there  is  no  room  for  Greek 
or  Jew,  barbarian  or  Scythian,  bond  or  free.  The 
Corinthians  bore  with  this  nobly  (/caXw?) ;  but  he  who 
had  begotten  them  in  the  true  Gospel  had  to  beg  them 
to  bear  with  him. 

There  is  only  one  difficulty  in  this  interpretation,  and 
that  is  not  a  serious  one  :  it  is  the  connexion  of  ver.  5 
with  what  precedes.  Those  who  connect  it  immediately 
with  ver.  4  are  obliged  to  supply  something  :  for  example, 
**  But  you  ought  not  to  bear  with  them,  for  I  consider 

,  that  I  am  in  nothing  behind  the  very  chiefest  apostles." 
I  have  no  doubt  at  all  that  ol  vTrepkiav  dTrocrroXoL — the 

I  superlative  apostles — are  not  Peter,  James,  and  John, 
but  the  teachers  aimed  at  in  ver.  4,  the  -^euBaTroaToXoL 

I  of  ver.  13;  it  is  with  them,  and  not  with  the  Twelve 
or  the  eminent  Three,  that  Paul  is  comparing  himself.^ 
But  even  so,  I  agree  with  Weizsacker  that  the  con- 
nexion for  the  yap  in  ver.  5  must  be  sought  further 
back — as  far  back,  indeed,  as  ver.  i.     *' You  bear  well 

'  It  is  gratuitous  to  drag  in  a  reference  to  the  first  Apostles,  and 
then  to  suppose  the  Corinthians  drawing  the  inference — "  if  he  is  not 
inferior  to  them,  still  less  is  he  inferior  to  our  new  teachers."  Such 
an  inference  depends  on  a  traditional  conception  of  apostleship  which 
the  Corinthians  were  not  likely  to  share,  and  it  is  equally  unnecessary 
and  improbable. 


xi.  1-6.]  GODLY  JEALOUSY  321 

enough  with  them,  and  so  you  may  well  bear  with 
me,  as  I  beg  you  to  do ;  for  I  consider,"  etc.  This  is 
effective  enough,  and  brings  us  back  again  to  the  main 
subject.  If  there  is  a  point  in  which  Paul  is  willing  to 
concede  his  inferiority  to  these  superlative  apostles, 
it  is  the  non-essential  one  of  utterance.  He  grants/ 
that  he  is  rude  in  speech — not  rhetorically  gifted  or 
trained — a  plain,  blunt  man  who  speaks  right  on.  But 
he  is  not  rude  in  knowledge  :  in  every  respect  he  has 
made  that  manifest,  among  all  men,  toward  them. 
The  last  clause  is  hardly  intelligible,  and  the  text  is 
insecure.^  The  reading  <f)avep(i}aavT6<i  is  that  of  all  the 
critical  editors ;  the  object  may  either  be  indefinite  (his 
competence  in  point  of  knowledge),  or,  more  precisely 
Tr)v  ^vojaiv  itself,  supplied  from  the  previous  clause.  In 
no  point  whatever,  under  no  circumstances,  has  Paul 
ever  failed  to  exhibit  to  the  Corinthians  the  whole  truth 
of  God  in  the  Gospel.  This  it  is  which  makes  him 
scornful  even  when  he  thinks  of  the  men  whom  the 
Corinthians  are  preferring  to  himself 

When  we  look  from  the  details  of  this  passage  to  its 
scope,  some  reflections  are  suggested,  which  have  their 
application  still. 

(i)  Our  conception  of  the  Person  of  Christ  deter- 
mines our  conception  of  the  whole  Christian  religion. 
What  we  have  to  proclaim  to  men  as  gospel — what  we 
have  to  offer  to  them  as  the  characteristic  temper  and 
virtue  of  the  life  which  the  Gospel  originates — depends 
on  the  answer  we  give  to  Jesus'  own  question,  *'  Whom 
say  ye  that  I  am  ?  "  A  Christ  who  is  simply  human 
cannot  be  to  men  what  a  Christ  is  who  is  truly  divine. 


*  Probably  either  iv  iravrl  or  iv  irdaiy,  the  latter  of  which  is  omitted 
in  some  authorities,  is  a  gloss. 

21 


322     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

The  Gospel  identified  with  Him  cannot  be  the  same ; 
the  spirit  of  the  society  which  gathers  round  Him  can- 
not be  the  same.  It  is  futile  to  ask  whether  such  a 
gospel  and  such  a  spirit  can  fairly  be  called  Christian ; 
they  are  in  point  of  fact  quite  other  things  from  the 
Gospel  and  the  Spirit  which  are  historically  associated 
with  the  name.  It  is  plain  from  this  passage  that  the 
Apostle  attached  the  utmost  importance  to  his  concep- 
tions of  the  Person  and  Work  of  the  Lord  :  ought  not 
this  to  give  pause  to  those  who  evacuate  his  theology 
of  many  of  its  distinctive  ideas — especially  that  of 
the  Pre-existence  of  Christ — on  the  plea  that  they  are 
merely  theologoumena  of  an  individual  Christian,  and 
that  to  discard  them  leaves  the  Gospel  unaffected  ? 
Certainly  this  was  not  what  he  thought.  Another 
Jesus  meant  another  spirit,  another  gospel — to  use 
modern  words,  another  religion  and  another  religious 
consciousness  ;  and  any  other,  the  Apostle  was  perfectly 
sure,  came  short  of  the  grandeur  of  the  truth.  The 
spirit  of  the  passage  is  the  same  with  that  in  Gal.  i.  6  ff., 
where  he  erects  the  Gospel  he  has  preached  as  the 
standard  of  absolute  religious  truth.  "  Though  we,  or 
an  angel  from  heaven,  should  preach  unto  you  any 
gospel  other  than  that  which  we  preached  unto  you, 
let  him  be  anathema.  As  we  have  said  before,  so  say 
I  now  again,  If  any  man  preacheth  unto  you  any 
gospel  other  than  that  which  ye  received,  let  him  be 
anathema." 

(2)  ''The  simplicity  that  is  toward  Christ" — the 
simple  acceptance  of  the  truth  about  Him,  and  undivided 
loyalty  of  heart  to  Him — may  be  corrupted  by  influences 
originating  within,  as  well  as  without,  the  Church. 
The  infidelity  which  is  subtlest,  and  most  to  be  dreaded, 
is  not  the  gross  materialism  or  atheism  which  will  not 


xi.  1-6.]  GODLY  JEALOUSY  323 

SO  much  as  hear  the  name  of  God  or  Christ ;  but  tliat 
which  uses  all  sacred  names,  speaking  readily  of  Jesus, 
the  Spirit,  and  the  Gospel,  but  meaning  something  else, 
and  something  less,  than  these  words  meant  in  apos- 
tolic lips.  This  it  was  which  alarmed  the  jealous  love 
of  Paul ;  this  it  is,  in  its  insidious  influence,  which  con- 
stitutes one  of  the  most  real  perils  of  Christianity  at 
the  present  time.  The  Jew  in  the  first  century,  who 
reduced  the  Person  and  Work  of  Christ  to  the  scale  of 
his  national  prejudices,  and  the  theologian  in  the  nine- 
teenth, who  discounts  apostolic  ideas  when  they  do  not 
suit  the  presuppositions  of  his  philosophy,  are  open  to 
the  same  suspicion,  if  they  do  not  fall  under  the  same 
condemnation.  True  thoughts  about  Christ — in  spite 
of  all  the  smart  sayings  about  theological  subtleties 
which  have  nothing  to  do  with  piety — are  essential  to 
the  very  existence  of  the  Christian  religion. 

(3)  There  is  no  comparison  between  the  Gospel  of 
God  in  Jesus  Christ  His  Son  and  any  other  religion. 
The  science  of  comparative  religion  is  interesting  as  a 
science ;  but  a  Christian  may  be  excused  for  finding 
the  religious  use  of  it  tiresome.  There  is  nothing  true 
in  any  of  the  religions  which  is  not  already  in  his 
possession.  He  never  finds  a  moral  idea,  a  law  of  the 
spiritual  life,  a  word  of  God,  in  any  of  them,  to  which 
he  cannot  immediately  offer  a  parallel,  far  more  simple 
and  penetrating,  from  the  revelation  of  Christ.  He  has 
no  interest  in  disparaging  the  light  by  which  millions 
of  his  fellow-creatures  have  walked,  generation  after 
generation,  in  the  mysterious  providence  of  God  ;  but 
he  sees  no  reason  for  pretending  that  that  light — which 
Scripture  calls  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death — can 
bear  comparison  with  the  radiance  in  which  he  lives. 
*'  If,"  he  might  say,  misapplying  the  fourth  verse — "if 


324     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

they  brought  us  another  saviour,  another  spirit,  another 
gospel,  we  might  be  rehgiously  interested  in  them ; 
but,  as  it  is,  we  have  everything  already,  and  they,  in 
comparison,  have  nothing."  The  same  remark  applies 
to  '' theosophy,"  ''spiritualism,"  and  other  "gospels." 
It  will  be  time  to  take  them  seriously  when  they  utter 
one  wise  or  true  word  on  God  or  the  soul  which  is  not 
an  echo  of  something  in  the  old  familiar  Scriptures. 


XXV 

FOOLISH  BOASTING 

"Or  did  I  commit  a  sin  in  abasing  myself  that  ye  might  be  exalted, 
because  I  preached  to  you  the  Gospel  of  God  for  nought  ?  I  robbed 
other  Churches,  taking  wages  of  them  that  I  might  minister  unto 
you ;  and  when  I  was  present  with  you  and  was  in  want,  I  was  not 
a  burden  on  any  man  ;  for  the  brethren,  when  they  came  from 
Macedonia,  supplied  the  measure  of  my  want;  and  in  everything  I 
kept  myself  from  being  burdensome  unto  you,  and  so  will  I  keep 
myself.  As  the  truth  of  Christ  is  in  me,  no  man  shall  stop  me  of  this 
glorying  in  the  regions  of  Achaia.  Wherefore  ?  because  I  love  you 
not?  God  knoweth.  But  what  I  do,  that  I  will  do,  that  I  may  cut 
off  occasion  from  them  which  desire  an  occasion  ;  that  wherein  they 
glory,  they  may  be  found  even  as  we.  For  such  men  are  false 
apostles,  deceitful  workers,  fashioning  themselves  into  apostles  of 
Christ.  And  no  marvel ;  for  even  Satan  fashioneth  himself  into  an 
angel  of  light.  It  is  no  great  thing  therefore  if  his  ministers  also 
fashion  themselves  as  ministers  of  righteousness  ;  whose  end  shall  be 
according  to  their  works. 

"I  say  again,  Let  no  man  think  me  foolish;  but  '\{  ye  do,  yet  as 
foolish  receive  me,  that  I  also  may  glory  a  little.  That  which  I  speak, 
I  speak  not  after  the  Lord,  but  as  in  foolishness,  in  this  confidence  of 
glorying.  Seeing  that  many  glory  after  the  flesh,  I  will  glory  also. 
For  ye  bear  with  the  foolish  gladly,  being  wise  yourselves.  For  ye 
bear  with  a  man,  if  he  bringcth  you  into  bondage,  if  he  devoureth 
you,  if  he  taketh  j'ou  captive,  if  he  exaltcth  himself,  if  he  smiteth  you 
on  the  face.  I  speak  by  way  of  disparagement,  as  though  we  had 
been  weak.  Yet  whereinsoever  any  is  bold  (I  speak  in  foolishness), 
I  am  bold  also.  Are  they  Hebrews  ?  so  am  L  Are  they  Israelites  ? 
so  am  I.  Are  they  the  seed  of  Abraham  ?  so  am  I.  Are  they 
ministers  of  Christ?  (I  speak  as  one  beside  himself)  I  more;  in 
labours  more  abundantly,  in  prisons  more  abundantly,  in  stripes 
above  measure,  in  deaths  oft.  Of  the  Jews  five  times  received  I  forty 
stripes  save  one.  Thrice  was  I  beaten  with  rods,  once  was  I  stoned, 
thrice  I  suftered  shipwreck,  a  night  and  a  day  have  I  been  in  the 

325 


326     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

deep  ;  in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  rivers,  in  perils  of  robbers,  in 
perils  from  my  countrymen,  in  perils  from  the  Gentiles,  in  perils  in 
the  city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  perils  in  the  sea,  in  perils 
among  false  brethren  ;  in  labour  and  travail,  in  viratchings  often,  in 
hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings  often,  in  cold  and  nakedness.  Beside 
those  things  that  are  without,  there  is  that  which  presseth  upon  me 
daily,  anxiety  for  all  the  Churches.  Who  is  weak,  and  I  am  not 
weak  ?  who  is  made  to  stumble,  and  I  burn  not  ?  " — 2  Cor.  xi.  7-29 
(R.V.). 

THE  connexion  of  ver.  7  with  what  precedes  is 
not  at  once  clear.  The  Apostle  has  expressed 
his  conviction  that  he  is  in  nothing  inferior  to  ''  the 
superlative  apostles "  so  greatly  honoured  by  the 
Corinthians.  Why,  then,  is  he  so  differently  treated  ? 
A  rudeness  in  speech  he  is  willing  to  concede,  but  that 
can  hardly  be  the  explanation,  considering  his  fulness 
of  knowledge.  Then  another  idea  strikes  him,  and  he 
puts  it,  interrogatively,  as  an  alternative.  Can  it  be 
that  he  did  wrong — humbling  himself  that  they  might 
be  exalted — in  preaching  to  them  the  Gospel  of  God 
for  nought,  i.e.  in  declining  to  accept  support  from  them 
while  he  evangelised  in  Corinth  ?  Do  they  appreciate 
the  interlopers  more  highly  than  Paul,  because  they 
exact  a  price  for  their  gospel,  while  he  preached  his 
for  nothing  ?  This,  of  course,  is  bitterly  ironical ;  but 
it  is  not  gratuitous.  The  background  of  fact  which 
prompted  the  Apostle's  question  was  no  doubt  this — 
that  his  adversaries  had  misinterpreted  his  conduct. 
A  true  apostle,  they  said,  has  a  right  to  be  maintained 
by  the  Church;  the  Lord  Himself  has  ordained  that 
they  who  preach  the  Gospel  should  live  by  the  Gospel ; 
but  he  claims  no  maintenance,  and  by  that  very  fact 
betrays  a  bad  conscience.  He  dare  not  make  the 
claim  which  every  true  apostle  makes  without  the  least 
misgiving. 


xi.7-29.]  FOOLISH  BOASTING  327 

It  would  be  hard  to  imagine  anything  more  mahgnant 
in  its  wickedness  than  this.  Paul's  refusal  to  claim 
support  from  those  to  whom  he  preached  is  one  of  the 
most  purely  and  characteristically  Christian  of  all  his 
actions.  He  felt  himself,  by  the  grace  of  Christ,  a 
debtor  to  all  men ;  he  owed  them  the  Gospel ;  it  was 
as  if  he  were  defrauding  them  if  he  did  not  tell  them 
of  the  love  of  God  in  His  Son.  He  felt  himself  in 
immense  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel ;  it 
was  the  free  gift  of  God  to  the  world,  and  as  far  as  it 
depended  on  him  its  absolute  freeness  would  not  be 
obscured  by  the  merest  suspicion  of  a  price  to  be  paid. 
He  knew  that  in  foregoing  his  maintenance  he  was 
resigning  a  right  secured  to  him  by  Christ  (i  Cor. 
ix.  14),  humbling  himself,  as  he  puts  it  here,  that 
others  might  be  spiritually  exalted ;  but  he  had  the  joy 
of  preaching  the  Gospel  in  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel — of 
entering,  in  Christ's  service,  into  the  self-sacrificing  joy 
of  his  Lord ;  and  he  valued  this  above  all  earthly 
reward.  To  accuse  such  a  man,  on  such  grounds,  of 
having  a  bad  conscience,  and  of  being  afraid  to  live  by 
his  work,  because  he  knew  it  was  not  what  it  pretended 
to  be,  was  to  sound  the  depths  of  baseness.  It  gave 
Paul  in  some  measure  the  Master's  experience,  when 
the  Pharisees  said,  ''  He  casteth  out  devils  by  Beelzebub, 
the  prince  of  the  devils."  It  is  really  the  prince  of  the 
devils,  the  accuser  of  the  brethren,  who  speaks  in  all 
such  malignant  insinuations ;  it  is  the  most  diabolical 
thing  any  one  can  do — the  nearest  approach  to  sinning 
against  the  Holy  Ghost — when  he  sets  himself  to  find 
out  bad  motives  for  good  actions. 

As  we  shall  see  further  on,  Paul's  enemies  made 
more  specific  charges  :  they  hinted  that  he  made  his 
own  out    of  the   Corinthians  indirectly,   and    that    he 


328     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

could  indemnify  himself,  for  this  abstinence,  from  the 
collection  (chaps,  xii.  1 6- 1 8,  chap.  viii.  and  ix.).  Perhaps 
this  is  why  he  describes  his  actual  conduct  at  Corinth 
in  such  vigorous  language  (vv.  7-1 1),  before  saying 
anything  at  all  of  his  motives.  "  I  preached  to  you  the 
Gospel  of  God,"  he  says,  ''for  nothing."  He  calls  it  "  the 
Gospel  of  God  "  with  intentional  fulness  and  solemnity ; 
the  genuine  Gospel,  he  means — not  another,  which  is 
no  gospel  at  all,  but  a  subversion  of  the  truth.  He 
robbed  other  Churches,  and  took  wages  from  them, 
in  order  to  minister  to  the  Corinthians.  There  is  a 
mingling  of  ideas  in  the  strong  words  here  used.  The 
English  reader  thinks  of  Paul's  doing  less  than  justice 
to  other  Churches  that  he  might  do  more  than  justice 
to  the  Corinthians ;  but  though  this  is  true,  it  is  not  all. 
Both  "robbed"  {eav\y)aa)  and  ''wages"  (6\jrMVLoi>)f  as 
Bengel  has  pointed  out,  are  military  words,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  resist  the  impression  that  Paul  used  them 
as  such  ;  he  did  not  come  to  Corinth  to  be  dependent 
on  any  one,  but  in  the  course  of  a  triumphant  progress, 
in  which  he  devoted  the  spoils  of  his  earlier  victories 
for  Christ  to  a  new  campaign  in  Achaia.^  Nay,  even 
when  he  was  with  them  and  was  "  in  want  "  (what  a 
ray  of  light  that  one  word  vareprjdeL^;  lets  into  his 
circumstances  !),  he  did  not  throw  himself  like  a  benumb- 
ing weight  on  any  one  ;  what  his  own  labours  failed  to 
supply,  the  brethren  (perhaps  Silas  and  Timothy)  made 
good  when  they  came  from  Macedonia.  This  has  been 
his  practice,  and  will  continue  to  be  so.  He  swears 
by  the  truth  of  Christ  that  is  in  him,  that  no  man  shall 
ever  stop  his  mouth,  so  far  as  boasting  of  this  independ- 


*  This  (observe  the  aorist   Xa/Sciv)  implies  that  he  brought  some 
money  with  him  from  Macedonia  to  Corinth. 


xi.7-29.]  FOOLISH  BOASTING  329 


ence  is  concerned,  in  the  regions  of  Achaia.  Why  ? 
His  tender  heart  dismisses  the  one  painful  supposition 
which  could  possibly  arise.  "  Because  I  love  you  not  ? 
God  knoweth."  Love  is  wounded  when  its  proffered 
gifts  are  rejected  with  scorn,  and  when  their  rejection 
means  that  it  is  rejected ;  but  that  was  not  the  situation 
here.  Paul  can  appeal  to  Him  who  knows  the  heart 
in  proof  of  the  sincerity  with  which  he  loves  the 
Corinthians. 

His  fixed  purpose  to  be  indebted  to  no  one  in 
Achaia  has  another  object  in  view.  What  that  is  he 
explains  in  the  twelfth  verse.  Strange  to  say,  this 
verse,  like  ver.  4,  has  received  two  precisely  opposite 
interpretations.  (i)  Some  start  with  the  idea  that 
Paul's  adversaries  at  Corinth  were  persons  who  took 
no  support  from  the  Church,  and  boasted  of  their 
disinterestedness  in  this  respect.  The  "  occasion " 
which  they  desired  was  an  occasion  of  any  sort  for 
disparaging  and  discrediting-  Paul ;  and  they  felt  they 
would  have  such  an  occasion  if  Paul  accepted  support 
from  the  Church,  and  so  put  himself  in  a  position  of 
inferiority  to  them.  But  Paul  persists  in  his  self- 
denying  policy,  with  the  object  of  depriving  them  of 
the  opportunity  they  seek,  and  at  the  same  time  of 
proving  them — in  this  very  point  of  disinterestedness — 
to  be  in  exactly  the  same  position  as  himself.  But 
surely,  throughout  both  Epistles,  a  contrast  is  implied, 
in  this  very  point,  between  Paul  and  his  opponents  : 
the  tacit  assumption  is  always  that  his  line  of  conduct 
is  singular,  and  is  not  to  be  made  a  rule.  And  in  the 
face  of  ver.  20  it  is  too  much  to  assume  that  it  was 
the  rule  of  his  Judaising  opponents  in  Corinth.  (2) 
Others  start  with  the  idea,  which  seems  to  me  indubit- 
ably right,   that  these    opponents   did  accept    support 


330     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

from  the  Church.  But  even  on  this  assumption 
opinions  diverge,  (a)  Some  argue  that  Paul  pursued 
his  policy  of  abstinence  partly  to  deprive  them  of  any 
opportunity  of  disparaging  him,  and  partly  to  compel 
them  to  adopt  it  themselves  ("  that  they  may  be  found 
even  as  vj&  ").^  I  can  hardly  imagine  this  being  taken 
seriously.  Why  should  Paul  have  wanted  to  lift  these 
preachers  of  a  false  gospel  to  a  level  with  himself  in 
point  of  generosity  ?  To  coerce  them  into  a  reluctant 
self-denial  could  be  no  possible  object  to  him  either  of 
wish  or  hope.  Hence  there  seems  only  {b)  the  other 
alternative  open,  which  makes  the  last  clause — ''  that 
wherein  they  boast,  they  may  be  found  even  as  we  " — 
depend,  not  upon  *'  what  I  do,  that  I  will  do,"  but 
upon  "  them  that  desire  occasion."  ^  What  the  adver- 
saries desired  was,  not  occasion  to  disparage  Paul  in 
general,  but  occasion  of  being  on  an  equality  with  him 
in  the  matter  in  which  they  gloried — viz.,  their  apostolic 
claims.  They  felt  the  advantage  which  Paul's  dis- 
interestedness gave  him  with  the  Corinthians ;  they 
had  not  themselves  the  generosity  needed  to  imitate 
it ;  it  was  not  enough  to  assail  it  with  covert  slanders 
(chap.  xii.  16-18),  or  to  say  that  he  was  afraid  to 
claim  an  apostle's  due;  it  would  have  been  all  they 
wanted  had  he  resigned  it.  Then  they  could  have  said 
that  in  that  in  which  they  boasted — apostolic  dignity 
— they  were  precisely  on  a  level  with  him.  But  not 
to  mention  the  spiritual  motives  for  his  conduct,  which 
have  been  already  explained,  and  were  independent  of 
all  relation  to  his  opponents,  Paul  was  too  capable  a 
strategist  to  surrender  such  a  position  to  the  enemy. 

^  That  is,  the  two  'iva  are  co-ordinate. 

^  That  is,  the  'iva  are  not  co-ordinate,  but  the  second  is  subordinate 
to  tG)v  QeKovTiov  d^op/xrjy. 


xi.7-29.]  FOOLISH  BOASTING  33 1 

It  would  never  be  by  action  of  his  that  he  and  they 
found  themselves  on  the  same  ground. 

At  the  very  mention  of  such  an  equality  his  heart 
rises  within  him.  *'  Found  even  as  we  I  Why,  such 
men  are  false  apostles,  deceitful  workers,  fashioning 
themselves  into  apostles  of  Christ."  Here,  at  last,  the 
irony  is  cast  aside,  and  Paul  calls  a  spade  a  spade. 
The  conception  of  apostleship  in  the  New  Testament 
is  not  that  dogmatic  traditional  one,  which  limits  the 
name  to  the  Twelve,  or  to  the  Twelve  and  the  Apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  ;  as  we  see  from  passages  like  chap.  viii. 
23,  Acts  xiv.  4,  14,  it  had  a  much  larger  application. 
What  Paul  means  when  he  calls  his  opponents  false 
apostles  is  not  that  persons  in  their  position  could 
have  no  right  to  the  name ;  but  that  persons  with 
their  character,  their  aims,  and  their  methods,  would 
only  deceive  others  when  they  used  it.  It  ought  to 
cover  something  quite  different  from  what  it  actually 
did  cover  in  them.  He  explains  himself  further  when 
he  calls  them  "  deceitful  workers."  That  they  were 
active  he  does  not  deny ;  but  the  true  end  of  their 
activity  was  not  declared.  As  far  as  the  word  itself 
goes,  the  "deceit"  which  they  used  may  have  been 
intended  to  cloak  either  their  personal  or  their  prose- 
lytising views.  After  what  we  have  read  in  chap.  x. 
12-18,  the  latter  seems  preferable.  The  Judaising 
preachers  had  shown  their  hand  in  Galatia,  demanding 
openly  that  Paul's  converts  should  be  circumcised,  and 
keep  the  law  of  Moses  as  a  whole  ;  but  their  experience 
there  had  made  them  cautious,  and  when  they  came 
to  Corinth  they  proceeded  more  diplomatically.  They 
tried  to  sap  the  Pauline  Gospel,  partly  by  preaching 
"  another  Jesus,"  partly  by  calling  in  question  the 
legitimacy    of    Paul's    vocation.       They    said    nothing 


332     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

openly  of  what  was  the  inevitable  and  intended  issue  of 
all  this — the  bringing  of  spiritual  Gentile  Christendom 
under  the  old  Jewish  yoke.  But  it  is  this  which  goes 
to  the  Apostle's  soul ;  he  can  be  nothing  but  irrecon- 
cilably hostile  to  men  who  have  assumed  the  guise 
of  apostles  of  Christ,  in  order  that  they  may  with 
greater  security  subvert  Christ's  characteristic  work. 
Paul  dwells  on  the  deceitfulness  of  their  conduct  as 
its  most  offensive  feature ;  yet  he  does  not  wonder 
at  it,  for  even  Satan,  he  says,  fashions  himself  into 
an  angel  of  light.  It  is  no  great  thing,  then,  if 
his  servants  also  fashion  themselves  as  servants  of 
righteousness. 

We  can  only  tell  in  a  general  way  what  Paul  meant 
when  he  spoke  of  Satan,  the  prince  of  darkness,  trans- 
figuring himself  so  as  to  appear  a  heavenly  angel. 
He  may  have  had  some  Jewish  legend  in  his  mind, 
some  story  of  a  famous  temptation,  unknown  to  us, 
or  he  may  only  have  intended  to  represent  to  the 
imagination,  with  the  utmost  possible  vividness,  one 
of  the  familiar  laws  in  our  moral  experience,  a  law 
which  was  strikingly  illustrated  by  the  conduct  of  his 
adversaries  at  Corinth.  Evil,  we  all  know,  could  never 
tempt  us  if  we  saw  it  simply  as  it  is ;  disguise  is 
essential  to  its  power ;  it  appeals  to  man  through  ideas 
and  hopes  which  he  cannot  but  regard  as  good.  So 
it  was  in  the  very  first  temptation.  An  act  which  in 
its  essential  character  was  neither  more  nor  less  than 
one  of  direct  disobedience  to  God  was  represented  by 
the  tempter,  not  in  that  character,  but  as  the  means 
by  which  man  was  to  obtain  possession  of  a  tree  good 
for  food  (sensual  satisfaction),  and  pleasant  to  the 
eyes  (aesthetic  satisfaction),  and  desirable  to  make  one 
wise  (intellectual  satisfaction).     All  these  satisfactions, 


xi.  7-29-]  FOOUJSJI  BOASTING  333 

which  in  themselves  are  undeniably  good,  were  the 
cloak  under  which  tiie  tempter  hid  his  true  features. 
He  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning,  and  entered 
Eden  to  ruin  man,  but  he  presented  himself  as  one 
offering  to  man  a  vast  enlargement  of  life  and  joy. 
This  is  the  nature  of  all  temptations ;  to  disguise 
himself,  to  look  as  like  a  good  angel  as  he  can,  is  the 
first  necessity,  and  therefore  the  first  invention,  of  the 
devil.  And  all  who  do  his  work,  the  Apostle  says, 
naturally  imitate  his  devices.  The  soul  of  man  is  born 
for  good,  and  will  not  listen  at  all  to  any  voice  which 
does  not  profess  at  least  to  speak  for  good  :  this  is 
why  the  devil  is  a  liar  from  the  beginning,  and  the 
father  of  lies.  Lying  in  word  and  deed  is  the  one 
weapon  with  which  he  can  assail  the  simplicity  of  man. 
But  how  does  this  apply  to  the  Judaisers  in  Corinth? 
To  Paul,  we  must  understand,  they  were  men  affecting 
to  serve  Christ,  but  really  impelled  by  personal,  or  at 
the  utmost  by  partisan,  feelings.  Their  true  object 
was  to  win  an  ascendency  for  themselves,  or  for  their 
party,  in  the  Church;  but  they  made  their  way  into 
it  as  evangelists  and  apostles.  Nominally,  they  were 
ministers  of  Christ ;  really,  they  ministered  to  their 
own  vanity,  and  to  the  bigotry  and  prejudices  of  their 
race.  They  professed  to  be  furthering  the  cause  of 
righteousness,!  but  in  sober  truth  the  only  cause  which 


*  There  has  been  some  discussion  as  to  the  precise  force  of  SiKaioavvrj 
("righteousness")  in  this  place.  It  seems  to  me  most  natural  to  take 
it,  without  suspicion,  in  a  perfectly  simple  sense :  a  minister  ot 
righteousness  is  the  truly  good  character  which  these  bad  men  affect. 
To  suppose  a  covert  sneer  at  their  "  legalism,"  or  that  they  had  pointed 
to  such  matters  as  are  discussed  in  1  Cor.  v.,  viii.,  and  x.,  as  in- 
dicating the  need  of  a  gospel  which  would  pay  more  attention  to 
righteousness  than  Paul's,  is  surely  too  clever. 


334     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

was  the  better  for  them  was  that  of  their  own  private  im- 
portance ;  the  result  of  their  ministry  was,  not  that  bad 
men  became  good,  but  that  they  themselves  felt  entitled 
to  give  themselves  airs.  Over  against  all  this  unreality 
Paul  remembers  the  righteous  judgment  of  God. 
'^  Whose  end,"  he  concludes  abruptly,  "  shall  be  accord- 
ing to  their  works." 

The  most  serious  aspect  of  such  a  situation  as  this 
is  seen  when  we  consider  that  men  may  fill  it  uncon- 
sciously :  they  may  devote  themselves  to  a  cause  which 
looks  hke  the  cause  of  Christ,  or  the  cause  of  righteous- 
ness ;  and  at  bottom  it  may  not  be  Christ  or  righteous- 
ness at  all  which  is  the  animating  principle  in  their 
hearts.  It  is  some  hidden  regard  to  themselves,  or  to 
a  party  with  which  they  are  identified.  Even  when 
they  labour,  and  possibly  suffer,  it  is  this,  and  not 
loyalty  to  Christ,  which  sustains  them.  It  may  be  in 
defence  of  orthodoxy,  or  in  furtherance  of  liberalism, 
that  a  man  puts  himself  forward  in  the  Church,  and  in 
either  case  he  will  figure  to  those  who  agree  with  him 
as  a  servant  of  righteousness;  but  equally  in  either 
case  the  secret  spring  of  his  action  may  be  pride,  the 
desire  to  assert  a  superiority,  to  consolidate  a  party 
which  is  his  larger  self,  to  secure  an  area  in  which  he 
may  rule.  He  may  spend  energy  and  talent  on  the 
work  ;  but  if  this  is  the  ultimate  motive  of  it,  it  is  the 
work  of  the  devil,  and  not  of  God.  Even  if  the  doctrine 
he  defends  is  the  true  one — even  if  the  policy  he  main- 
tains is  the  right  one — the  services  he  may  accidentally 
render  are  far  outweighed  by  the  domestication  in  the 
Church  of  a  spirit  so  alien  to  the  Lord's.  It  is  diabolical, 
not  divine;  the  Gospel  is  profaned  by  contact  with  it; 
the  Church  is  prostituted  when  it  serves  as  an  arena 
for  its  exercise ;  when  it  comes  forward  in  the  interest 


xi.7-29.]  FOOLISH  BOASTING  335 

of  riglitcousncss,  it  is  Satan  fasliioning  himself  into  an 
angel  of  light. 

At  this  point  Paul  returns  to  the  idea  which  has  been 
in  his  mind  since  chap.  x.  7 — the  idea  of  boasting,  or 
rather  glorying.  He  does  not  like  the  thing  itself,  and 
just  as  little  does  he  like  the  mask  of  a  fool,  under 
which  he  is  to  play  the  part  :  he  is  conscious  that  neither 
suits  him.  Hence  he  clears  the  ground  once  more, 
before  he  commits  himself.  "  Again,  I  say,  let  no  man 
think  that  I  am  foolish ;  but  if  that  favour  cannot  be 
granted,  then  even  as  a  foolish  person  receive  me,  that 
I  also  may  boast  a  little."  There  is  a  fine  satirical 
reflection  in  the  ''also."  If  he  does  make  a  fool  of 
himself  by  boasting,  he  is  only  doing  what  the  others 
do,  whom  the  Corinthians  receive  with  open  arms.  But 
it  strikes  his  conscience  suddenly  that  there  is  a  higher 
rule  for  the  conduct  of  a  Christian  man  than  the  example 
of  his  rivals,  or  the  patience  of  his  friends.  The  tender- 
ness of  Paul's  spirit  comes  out  in  the  next  words :  **  What 
I  speak,  I  speak  fiot  after  the  Lordy  but  as  in  foolishness, 
in  this  confidence  of  glorying."  The  Lord  never  boasted  ; 
nothing  could  be  conceived  less  like  Him,  less  after  His 
mind ;  and  Paul  will  have  it  distinctly  understood  that 
His  character  is  not  compromised  by  any  extravagance 
of  which  His  servant  may  here  make  himself  guilty.  As 
a  rule,  the  Apostle  did  speak  ''  after  the  Lord  "  ;  his 
habitual  consciousness  was  that  of  one  who  had  ''  the 
mind  of  Christ,"  and  who  felt  that  Christ's  character 
was,  in  a  sense,  in  his  keeping.  That  ought  to  be  the 
rule  for  all  Christians  ;  we  should  never  find  ourselves 
in  situations  in  which  the  Christian  character,  with  all 
its  responsibilities,  affecting  both  ourselves  and  Him, 
cannot  be  maintained.  With  Christ  and  His  interests 
removed  from  the  scene,  Paul  at  length  feels  himself 


336     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

free   to   measure   himself  against   his   rivals.     **  Since 
many  glory  after  the  flesh,   I   also  will  glory."     The 
flesh  means  everything  except  the  spirit.     Where  Christ 
and  the  Gospel  are  concerned,  it  is,  according  to  Paul, 
an  absolute  irrelevance,  a  thing  to  be  simply  left  out 
of  account ;    but  since  they  persist  in  dragging  it  in, 
he  will  meet  them  on  their  own  ground.     What  that 
is,  first  comes  out  clearly  in  ver.  22  :  but  the  Apostle 
delays  again  to  urge  his  plea  for  tolerance.     *'  Ye  suffer 
the  foolish  gladly,  being  wise  yourselves,"     It  answers 
best  to  the  vehemence  of  the  whole   passage  to  take 
the  first  clause  here — "Ye  suffer  the  foolish  gladly"^ 
as   grim    earnest,    the    reference    being    to    the    other 
boasters,   Paul's  rivals ;    and  only  the    second    clause 
ironically.     Then  ver.  20  would  give  the  proof  of  this  : 
''Ye  bear  with  the  foolish  gladly  ...  for  ye  bear  with 
a  man  if  he  enslaves  you,  if  he  devours  you,  if  he  takes 
you  captive,  if  he  exalts  himself  over  you,  if  he  strikes 
you  on  the  face."     We  must  suppose  that  this  strong 
language    describes    the    overbearing   and   violent    be- 
haviour of  the  Judaists  in  Corinth.     We  do  not  need 
to  take  it  literally,  but  neither  may  we   suppose  that 
Paul  spoke  at  random  :  he  is  virtually  contrasting  his 
own  conduct  and  that  of  the  people  in  question,  and 
the    nature    of    the    contrast    must    be    on    the   whole 
correctly  indicated.     He  himself  had  been  accused  of 
weakness;  and  he  frankly  admits  that,  if  comparison 
has    to  be  made  with  a  line  of  action   like  this,   the 
accusation  is  just.     ''  I  speak  by  way  of  disparagement, 
as  though  we  had  been  weak."     This  rendering  of  the 
Revised  Version  fairly  conveys  the  meaning.     It  might 
be  expressed  in  a  paraphrase,  as  follows:  **In  saying 
what  I  have  said  of  the  behaviour  of  my  rivals,  I  have 
been  speaking  to  my  own  disparagement,  the  idea  in-^ 


xi.7-29.]  FOOLISH  BOASTING  337 

volvcd*^  being  that  /"  (notice  the  empliatic  rjfiet^;)  "have 
been  weak.  Weak,  no  doubt,  I  was,  if  violent  action 
Hke  theirs  is  the  true  measure  of  strength  :  nevertheless, 
whereinsoever  any  is  bold  (I  speak  in  foolishness),  I 
am  bold  also.  On  whatever  ground  they  claim  to 
exercise  such  extraordinary  powers,  that  ground  I  can 
maintain  as  well  as  they." 

Here,  finally,  the  boasting  does  begin.  ''Are  they 
Hebrews  ?  so  am  I.  Are  they  Israelites  ?  so  am  I. 
Are  they  the  seed  of  Abraham  ?  so  am  I."  This  is 
the  sum  and  substance  of  what  is  meant  by  their 
glorying  after  the  flesh  :  they  prided  themselves  on 
their  birth,  and  claimed  authority  on  the  strength  of 
it.  They  may  have  appealed,  not  only  to  the  election 
of  Israel  as  the  Old  Testament  represents  it,  but  to 
words  of  Jesus,  like  "  Salvation  is  of  the  Jews."  The 
three  names  for  what  is  in  reality  one  thing  convey 
the  impression  of  the  immense  importance  which  was 
assigned  to  it.  "  Hebrews  "  seems  the  least  significant  ; 
it  is  merely  the  national  name,  with  whatever  historical 
glories  attached  to  it  in  Hebrew  minds.  "  Israelites  "  is 
a  sacred  name ;  it  is  identified  with  the  prerogatives  of 
the  theocratic  people :  Paul  himself,  when  his  heart 
swells  with  patriotic  emotion,  begins  the  enumeration 
of  the  privileges  belonging  to  his  kinsmen  after  the 
flesh — "  they,  who  are  Israelites."  "  Seed  of  Abraham," 
again,  is  for  the  Apostle,  and  probably  for  these 
rivals  of  his,  equivalent  to  "  heirs  of  the  promises  " ;  it 
describes  the  Jewish  people  as  more  directly  and  im- 
mediately interested — nay,  as  alone  directly  and  imme- 
diately interested — in  the  salvation  of  God.     No  one 

'  This  is  the  force  of  the  ws:  it  leaves  it  open  whether  the  idea 
has  reahty  answering  to  it  or  not. 

22 


338     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

could  read  Rom.  ix.  4f.  without  feeling  that  pride  of 
race — pride  in  his  people,  and  in  their  special  relation 
to  God  and  special  place  in  the  history  of  redemption — 
was  among  the  strongest  passions  in  the  Apostle's 
heart ;  and  we  can  understand  the  indignation  and 
scorn  with  which  he  regarded  men  who  tracked  him 
over  Asia  and  Europe,  assailed  his  authority,  and 
sought  to  undermine  his  work,  on  the  ground  that  he 
was  faithless  to  the  lawful  prerogatives  of  Israel. 
There  was  not  an  Israelite  in  the  world  prouder  of  his 
birth,  with  a  more  magnificent  sense  of  his  country's 
glories,  than  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles :  and  it  pro- 
voked him  beyond  endurance  to  see  the  things  in  which 
he  gloried  debased,  as  they  were  debased,  by  his  rivals 
— made  the  symbols  of  a  paltry  vanity  which  he 
despised,  made  barriers  to  the  universal  love  of  God 
by  which  all  the  families  of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed. 
Driven  to  extremity,  he  could  only  outlaw  such  oppo- 
nents from  the  Christian  community,  and  transfer  the 
prerogatives  of  Israel  to  the  Church.  "  We,'^  he  taught 
his  Gentile  converts  to  say — ^^  we  are  the  circumcision, 
who  worship  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  rejoice  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  have  no  confidence  in  the  flesh  "  (Phil.  iii.  3). 
Here  he  does  not  linger  long  over  what  is  merely 
external.  It  is  a  deeper  question  that  he  asks  in  ver. 
23,  "  Are  they  ministers  of  Christ  ?  "  and  he  feels  like  a 
man  beside  himself,  clean  out  of  his  senses  (7rapa(f)povoov) 
— so  unsuitable  is  the  subject  for  boasting — as  he 
answers,  "  I  more."  Many  interpret  this  as  if  it  meant, 
"  I  am  more  than  a  servant  of  Christ,"  and  then  ask 
wonderingly,  ''  What  more  ?  "  but  surely  the  natural 
meaning  is,  **  I  am  a  servant  too,  in  a  higher  degree." 
The  proof  of  this  is  given  in  that  tale  of  sufferings 
which    bursts  irrepressibly  from    the  Apostle's    heart, 


xi.7-29.]  FOOLISH  BOASTING  339 

and    sweeps   us   in    its    course    like   a   torrent.     If   he 
thought  of  his  rivals  when  he  began,  and  was  institut- 
ing a  serious  comparison  when  he  wrote  **  in  labours 
more  abundantly  [than   they],"  they   must   soon  have 
escaped  from  his  mind,     it  is  his  own  life  as  a  minister 
of  Christ  on  which  he  dwells  ;  and  after  the  first  words, 
if  a  comparison  is  to  be  made,  he  leaves  the  making  of 
it  to  others.     But  comparison,  in  fact,  was  out  of  the 
question  :  the  sufferings  of  the  Apostle  in  doing  service 
to  Christ  were  unparalleled  and  alone.     The  few  lines 
which  he  devotes  to  them  are  the  most  vivid  light  we 
have  on  the  apostolic  age   and  the   apostolic  career. 
They  show  how   fragmentary,   or   at   all  events   how 
select,  is  the  narrative  in  the  Book  of  Acts.     Thus  of 
the  incidents  mentioned  in  ver.  25  we  learn  but  little 
from   St.    Luke.      Of    the   five   times   nine-and-thirty 
stripes,  he  mentions  none ;  of  the  three  beatings  with 
rods,  only  one ;  of  the  three  shipwrecks,  none  (for  Acts 
xxvii.  is  later),  and  nothing  of  the  twenty-four  hours  in 
the  deep.     It  is  not  necessary  to  comment  on  details, 
but  one  cannot  resist  the  impression  of  triumph  with 
which  Paul  recounts  the  "  perils  "  he   had   faced ;  so 
many  they  were,  so  various,  and  so  terrible,  yet  in  the 
Lord's  service  he  has  come   safely  through  them  all. 
It  is  a  commentary  from  his  own   hand  on   his  own 
word — ''  as   dying,    and,   behold,    we    live  ! "       In    the 
retrospect  all  these  perils  show,  not  only  that  he  is  a 
true  servant  of  Christ,  entering  into  the  fellowship  of 
his  Master's   sufferings  to  bring  blessing  to  men,  but 
that  he   is  owned  by  Christ   as   such :  the   Lord  has 
delivered    him    from    deaths    so   great;   yes,    and  will 
deliver  him  ;   and  his   hope   is  set  on  Him  for  every 
deliverance  he  may  need  (chap.  i.  10). 

But,  after  all,  these  perils  are  but  outward,  and  the 


340    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

very  enumeration  of  them  shows  that  they  are  things 
of  the  past.  In  all  their  kinds  and  degrees — violence, 
privation,  exposure,  fear — they  are  a  historical  testimony 
to  the  devotion  with  which  Paul  has  served  Christ.  He 
bore  in  his  body  the  marks  which  they  had  left,  and 
to  him  they  were  the  marks  of  Jesus ;  they  identified 
him  as  Christ's  slave.  But  not  to  mention  incidental 
matters,^  there  is  another  testimony  to  his  ministry 
which  is  ever  with  him — a  burden  as  crushing  as  these 
bodily  sufferings,  and  far  more  constant  in  its  pressure  : 
"  that  which  cometh  upon  me  daily,  anxiety  for  all  the 
Churches."  Short  of  this,  anything  of  which  man  can 
boast  may  be,  at  least  in  a  qualified  sense,  "  after  the 
flesh  " ;  but  in  this  identification  of  himself  with  Christ's 
cause  in  the  world — this  bearing  of  others'  burdens  on 
his  spirit — there  is  that  fulfilment  of  Christ's  law  which 
alone  and  finally  legitimates  a  Christian  ministry.  Nor 
was  it  merely  in  an  official  sense  that  Paul  was  interested 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  When  the  Church  is  once 
planted  in  the  world,  it  has  a  side  which  is  of  the  world, 
a  side  which  may  be  administered  without  a  very  heavy 
expenditure  of  Christian  feeling :  this,  it  is  safe  to  say, 
is  simply  out  of  sight.  Paul's  anxiety  for  the  Churches 
is  defined  in  all  its  scope  and  intensity  in  the  passionate 
words  of  the  twenty-ninth  verse :  ''  Who  is  weak,  and 
I  am  not  weak  ?  Who  is  made  to  stumble,  and  I  burn 
not  ?  "  His  love  individualised  Christian  people,  and 
made  him  one  with  them.  There  was  no  trembling 
timorous  soul,  no  scrupulous  conscience,  in  all  the  com- 
munities he  had  founded,  whose  timidity  and  weakness 
did  not  put  a  limit  to  his  strength :  he  condescended 


'  This,  which  is  the  second  alternative  given  in  the  margin  of  the 
Revised  Version,  seems  to  me  the  true  meaning  of  x'^/^'S  t^^  irapeKTds. 


xi.7-29]  FOOLISH  BOASTING  341 

to  their  intelligence,  feeding  them  with  milk,  and  not 
with  meat ;  he  measured  his  liberty,  not  in  principle  but 
in  practice,  by  their  bondage  ;  his  heart  thrilled  with 
their  fears  ;  in  the  fulness  of  his  Christ-like  strength  he 
lived  a  hundred  feeble  lives.  And  when  spiritual  harm 
came  to  one  of  them — when  the  very  least  was  made 
to  stumble,  and  was  caught  in  the  snare  of  falsehood 
or  sin — the  pain  in  his  heart  was  like  burning  fire. 
The  sorrow  that  pierced  the  soul  of  Christ  pierced 
his  soul  also ;  the  indignation  that  glowed  in  the 
Master's  breast,  as  He  pronounced  woe  on  the  man 
by  whom  occasions  of  stumbling  come,  glowed  again 
in  him.  This  is  the  fire  that  Christ  came  to  cast  on 
the  earth,  and  that  He  longed  to  see  kindled — this 
prompt  intense  sympathy  with  all  that  is  of  God  in 
men's  souls,  this  readiness  to  be  weak  with  the  weak, 
this  pain  and  indignation  when  the  selfishness  or  pride 
of  men  leads  the  weak  astray,  and  imperils  the  work 
for  which  Christ  died.  And  this  is  indeed  the  Apostle's 
last  line  of  defence.  Nowhere  could  boasting  be  less 
in  place  than  when  a  man  speaks  of  the  lessons  he  has 
learned  at  the  Cross  :  yet  these  only  give  him  a  title 
to  glory  as  "a  minister  of  Christ."  If  glorying  here  is 
inadmissible,  it  is  because  glorying  in  every  sense  is 
''  folly." 


XXVI 

STRENGTH  AND   WEAKNESS 

"  If  I  must  needs  glory,  I  will  glory  of  the  things  that  concern 
my  weakness.  The  God  and  Father  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  He  who  is 
blessed  for  evermore,  knoweth  that  I  lie  not.  In  Damascus  the 
governor  under  Aretas  the  king  guarded  the  city  of  the  Damascenes, 
in  order  to  take  me:  and  through  a  window  was  I  let  down  in  a 
basket  by  the  wall,  and  escaped  his  hands. 

"  I  must  needs  glory,  though  it  is  not  expedient ;  but  I  will  come 
to  visions  and  revelations  of  the  Lord.  I  know  a  man  in  Christ, 
fourteen  years  ago  (whether  in  the  body,  I  know  not;  or  whether 
out  of  the  body,  I  know  not ;  God  knoweth),  such  a  one  caught  up 
even  to  the  third  heaven.  And  I  know  such  a  man  (whether  in 
the  body,  or  apart  from  the  body,  I  know  not ;  God  knoweth),  how 
that  he  was  caught  up  into  Paradise,  and  heard  unspeakable  words, 
which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter.  On  behalf  of  such  a  one 
will  I  glory :  but  on  mine  own  behalf  I  will  not  glory,  save  in  my 
weaknesses.  For  if  I  should  desire  to  glory,  I  shall  not  be  foolish ; 
for  I  shall  speak  the  truth  :  but  I  forbear,  lest  any  man  should 
account  of  me  above  that  which  he  seeth  me  to  be,  or  heareth  from 
me.  And  by  reason  of  the  exceeding  greatness  of  the  revelations — 
wherefore,  that  I  should  not  be  exalted  overmuch,  there  was  given 
to  me  a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  a  messenger  of  Satan  to  buffet  me,  that 
I  should  not  be  exalted  overmuch.  Concerning  this  thing  I  besought 
the  Lord  thrice,  that  it  might  depart  from  me.  And  He  hath  said 
unto  me,  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee  :  for  My  power  is  made 
perfect  in  weakness.  Most  gladly  therefore  will  I  rather  glory  in 
my  weaknesses,  that  the  strength  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me. 
Wherefore  I  take  pleasure  in  weaknesses,  in  injuries,  in  necessities, 
in  persecutions,  in  distresses,  for  Christ's  sake :  for  when  I  am  weak, 
then  am  I  strong." — 2  Cor.  xi.  30-xii.  10  (R.V.). 


THE  difficulties  of  exposition   in  this  passage  are 
partly   connected  with    its    form,  partly  with  its 
gubstance :  it  will  be  convenient  to  dispose  of  the  formal 

342 


xi.  30-xii.  lo.]     STRENGTH  AND   WEAKNESS  343 

side  first.  The  thirtieth  verse  of  the  eleventh  chapter — 
*'  If  I  must  needs  glory,  I  will  glory  of  the  things  that 
concern  my  weakness  " — seems  to  serve  two  purposes. 
On  the  one  hand,  it  is  a  natural  and  effective  climax  to 
all  that  precedes ;  it  defines  the  principle  on  which  Paul 
has  acted  in  the  "glorying"  of  vv.  23-29.  It  is  not  of 
exploits  that  he  is  proud,  but  of  perils  and  sufferings  ; 
not  of  what  he  has  achieved,  but  of  what  he  has 
endured,  for  Christ's  sake ;  in  a  word,  not  of  strength,  ' 
but  of  weakness.  On  the  other  hand,  this  same  thirtieth 
verse  indubitably  points  forward  ;  it  defines  the  principle 
on  which  Paul  will  always  act  where  boasting  is  in 
view ;  and  it  is  expressly  resumed  in  chap,  xii.,  ver.  5 
and  ver.  9.  For  this  reason,  it  seems  better  to  treat 
it  as  a  text  than  as  a  peroration  ;  it  is  the  key  to  the 
interpretation  of  what  follows,  put  into  our  hands  by 
the  Apostle  himself.  In  the  full  consciousness  of  its 
dangers  and  inconveniences,  he  means  to  go  a  little 
further  in  this  foolish  boasting ;  but  he  takes  security, 
as  far  as  possible,  against  its  moral  perils,  by  choosing 
as  the  ground  gf  boasting  things  which  in  the  common 
judgment  of  men  would  only  bring  him  shame. 

At  this  point  we  are  startled  by  a  sudden  appeal  to 
God,  the  solemnity  and  fulness  of  which  strike  us,  on 
a  first  reading,  as  almost  painfully  gratuitous.  "  The 
God  and  Father  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  He  who  is  blessed 
for  ever,  knoweth  that  I  lie  not."  What  is  the  explana- 
tion of  this  extraordinary  earnestness  ?  There  is  a 
similar  passage  in  Gal.  i.  19—"  Now  touching  the  things 
which  I  write  unto  you,  behold,  before  God,  I  lie  not " 
— where  Lightfoot  says  the  strength  of  the  Apostle's 
language  is  to  be  explained  by  the  unscrupulous 
calumnies  cast  upon  him  by  his  enemies.  This  may 
be  the  clue  to  his  vehemence  here  ;  and  in  point  of 


344     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

fact  it  falls  in  with  by  far  the  most  ingenious  explana- 
tion that  has  been  given  of  the  two  subjects  introduced 
in  this  paragraph.  The  explanation  I  refer  to  is  that 
of  Heinrici.  He  supposes  that  Paul's  escape  from 
Damascus,  and  his  visions  and  revelations,  had  been 
turned  to  account  against  him  by  his  rivals.  They  had 
used  the  escape  to  accuse  him  of  ignominious  cowardice : 
the  indignity  of  it  is  obvious  enough.  His  visions  and 
revelations  were  as  capable  of  misconstruction  :  it  was 
easy  to  call  them  mere  illusions,  signs  of  a  disordered 
brain  ;  it  was  not  too  much  for  malice  to  hint  that  his 
call  to  apostleship  rested  on  nothing  better  than  one 
of  these  ecstatic  hallucinations.  It  is  because  things 
so  dear  to  him  are  attacked — his  reputation  for  personal 
courage,  which  is  the  mainstay  of  all  the  virtues ;  his 
actual  vision  of  Christ,  and  divinely  authorised  mission 
— that  he  makes  the  vehement  appeal  that  startles  us 
at  first.  He  calls  God  to  witness  that  in  regard  to 
both  these  subjects  he  is  going  to  tell  the  exact  truth : 
the  truth  will  be  his  sufficient  defence.  Ingenious  as 
it  is,  I  do  not  think  this  theory  can  be  maintained. 
There  is  no  hint  in  the  passage  that  Paul  is  defending 
himself;  he  is  glorying,  and  glorying  in  the  things  that 
concern  his  weakness.  It  seems  more  probable  that, 
when  he  dictated  the  strong  words  of  ver.  31,  the  out- 
line of  all  he  was  going  to  say  was  in  his  mind  ;  and  as 
the  main  part  of  it — all  about  the  visions  and  revelations 
— was  absolutely  uncontrollable  by  any  witness  but  his 
own,  he  felt  moved  to  attest  it  thus  in  advance.  The 
names  and  attributes  of  God  fall  in  well  with  this.  As 
the  visions  and  revelations  were  specially  connected 
with  Christ,  and  were  counted  by  the  Apostle  among  the 
things  for  which  he  had  the  deepest  reason  to  praise 
God,  it  is  but  the  reflection  of  this  state  of  mind  when 


xi.30-xii.  la]     STRENGTH  AND  WEAKNESS  345 

he  appeals  to  "the  God  and  Father  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
He  who  is  blessed  for  evermore."  This  is  not  a  random 
adjuration,  but  an  appeal  which  takes  shape  involun- 
tarily in  a  grateful  and  pious  heart,  on  which  the 
memory  of  a  signal  grace  and  honour  still  rests.  Of 
course  the  verses  about  Damascus  stand  rather  out 
of  relation  to  it.  But  it  is  a  violence  which  nothing 
can  justify  to  strike  them  out  of  the  text  on  this  ground, 
and  along  with  them  part  or  the  whole  of  ver.  i  in 
chap,  xii.^  For  many  reasons  unknown  to  us  the 
danger  in  Damascus,  and  the  escape  from  it,  may  have 
had  a  peculiar  interest  for  the  Apostle ;  hcec  per- 
scquutio,  says  Calvin,  erat  quasi  primum  tirocinium 
Pauli'y  it  was  his  "  matriculation  in  the  school  of  per- 
secution." He  may  have  intended,  as  Meyer  thinks,  to 
make  it  the  beginning  of  a  new  catalogue  of  sufferings 
for  Christ's  sake,  all  of  which  were  to  be  covered  by 
the  appeal  to  God,  and  have  abruptly  repented,  and 
gone  off  on  another  subject;  but  whether  or  not,  to 
expunge  the  lines  is  pure  wilfulness.  The  Apostle 
glories  in  what  he  endured  at  Damascus — in  the 
imminent  peril  and  in  the  undignified  escape  alike — as 
in  things  belonging  to  his  weakness.  Another  might 
choose  to  hide  such  things,  but  they  are  precisely  what 
he  tells.  In  Christ's  service  scorn  is  glory,  ignominy 
is  honour ;  and  it  is  the  mark  of  loyalty  when  men 
rejoice  that  they  are  counted  worthy  to  suffer  shame 
for  the  Name.^  ^ 

^  This  is  done  by  a  number  of  critics,  including  Holsten  and 
Schmiedel. 

^  Godet  gives  the  incident  a  peculiar  turn,  more  ingenious  than  con- 
vincing. "  No  doubt  the  list  I  have  given  is  one  of  mere  infirmities. 
I  might  well  boast  of  things  apparently  more  glorious— as  when  the 
whole  of  that  great  city,  Damascus,  was  raised  against  me,  and  I 
could  only  escape  secretly." — Introduction  au  Nouv.  Test.,  p.  393. 


346     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

When  we  go  on  to  chap,  xii.,  and  the  second  of  the 
two  subjects  with  which  boasting  is  to  be  associated, 
we  meet  in  the  first  verse  with  serious  textual  difli- 
culties.  Our  Authorised  Version  gives  the  rendering :  ''7/ 
^5  not  expedient  for  me  doubtless  to  glory.  I  will  come  to 
visions  and  revelations  of  the  Lord^  This  follows  the 
Textus  Reccptus  :  Kav)(^aa6at  Srj  ov  av/jL^epec  /jlol' 
iXeuaofjbab  ryap  k.t.X.,  only  omitting  the  yap  (for  I  will 
come).  The  MSS.  are  almost  chaotic,  but  the  most 
authoritative  editors — Tregelles,  Tischendorf  in  his  last 
edition,  and  Westcott  and  Hort — agree  in  reading 
Kavx^aOat  Bel  ov  ^  avficjiipov  jJiev  eXevcrofxat,  Se  k.t.X. 
This  is  the  text  which  our  Revisers  render  :  '*  /  must 
needs  glory ^  though  it  is  not  expedient ;  but  I  will  come  to 
visions  and  revelations  of  the  Lord.^^  Practically,  the 
difference  is  not  so  great  after  all.  According  to  the 
best  authorities,  Paul  repeats  that  he  is  being  forced  to 
speak  as  he  does ;  the  consciousness  of  the  disadvan- 
tages attendant  on  this  course  does  not  leave  him,  it 
is  rather  deepened,  as  he  approaches  the  highest  and 
most  sacred  of  all  subjects — visions  and  revelations 
he  has  received  from  Christ.  Of  these  two  words, 
revelations  is  the  wider  in  import :  visions  were  only 
one  of  the  wa3^s  in  which  revelations  could  be  made. 
Paul,  of  course,  is  not  going  to  boast  directly  of  the 
visions  and  revelations  themselves.  All  through  the 
experiences  to  which  he  alludes  under  this  name  he 
was  to  himself  as  a  third  person  ;  he  was  purely  passive  ; 
and  to  claim  credit,  to  glory  as  if  he  had  done  or 
originated  anything,  would  be  transparently  absurd. 
But  there  are  ''  things  of  his  weakness "  associated 
with,  if  not  dependent  on,  these  high  experiences  ;  and 

'  In  their  margin  "Westcott  and  Hort  read  U  ov. 


xi.  30-xii.  10.]     STRENGTH  AND   WEAKNESS  347 

it  is  in  them,  after  due  explanation,  that  he  purposes 
to  exult. 

He  begins  abruptly.  "  I  know  a  man  in  Christ, 
fourteen  years  ago  (whether  in  the  body,  I  know  not ; 
or  whether  out  of  the  body,  I  know  not ;  God  knoweth), 
such  a  one  caught  up  even  to  the  third  heaven."  A 
man  in  Christ  means  a  Christian  man,  a  man  in  his 
character  as  a  Christian,  To  St.  Paul's  consciousness 
the  wonderful  experience  he  is  about  to  describe  was 
not  natural,  still  less  pathological,  but  unequivocally 
religious.  It  did  not  befall  him  as  a  man  simply,  still 
less  as  an  epileptic  patient;  it  was  an  unmistakably 
Christian  experience.  He  only  existed  for  himself, 
during  it,  as  ''a  man  in  Christ."  "I  know  such  a 
man,"  he  says,  "  fourteen  years  ago  caught  up.  even  to 
the  third  heaven."  The  date  of  this  "  rapture  "  (the 
same  word  is  used  in  Acts  viii.  39;  i  Thess.  iv.  17; 
Rev.  xii.  5  :  all  significant  examples)  would  be  about 
A.D.  44.  This  forbids  us  to  connect  it  in  any  way  with 
Paul's  conversion,  which  must  have  been  twenty  years 
earlier  than  this  letter ;  and  indeed  there  is  no  reason 
for  identifying  it  with  anything  else  we  know  of  the 
Apostle.  At  the  date  in  question,  as  far  as  can  be 
made  out  from  the  Book  of  Acts,  he  must  have  been 
in  Tarsus  or  in  Antioch.  The  rapture  itself  is  de- 
scribed as  perfectly  incomprehensible.  He  may  have 
been  carried  up  bodily  to  the  heavenly  places ;  his 
spirit  may  have  been  carried  up,  while  his  body 
remained  unconscious  upon  earth  :  he  can  express  no 
opinion  about  this  ;  the  truth  is  only  known  to  God. 
It  is  idle  to  exploit  a  passage  like  this  in  the  interest 
of  apostolic  psychology  ;  Paul  is  only  taking  elaborate 
pains  to  tell  us  that  of  the  mode  of  his  rapture  he  was 
absolutely  ignorant.     It  is  fairer  to  infer  that  the  event 


348    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

I  was  unique  in  his  experience,  and  that  when  it  hap- 

\  pened  he  was  alone  ;  had  such  things  recurred,  or  had 

,  there  been  spectators,  he  could  not  have  been  in  doubt 

^as  to  whether  he  was  caught  up  ''  in  the  body  "  or  '*  out 

of  the   body."     The  mere  fact  that  the  date  is  given 

individualises   the   event    in    his  life ;    and  it  is  going 

beyond  the  facts  altogether  to  generalise  it,  and  take 

it  as  the  type  of  such  an  experience  as  accompanied 

his   conversion,    or   of    the   visions    in    Acts    xvi.    9, 

xxii.  17  f.,  xviii.  9.     It  was  one,  solitary,  incomparable 

experience,  including  in    it  a  complex  of  visions  and 

revelations  granted  by  Christ :  it  was  this,  at  all  events, 

to  the  Apostle ;  and  if  we  do  not  believe  what  he  tells 

us  about  it,  we  can  have  no  knowledge  of  it  at  all. 

"  Caught  up  even  to  the  third  heaven."  The  Jews 
usually  counted  seven  heavens ;  sometimes,  perhaps 
because  of  the  dual  form  of  the  Hebrew  word  for 
heaven,  two ;  but  the  distinctions  between  the  various 
heavens  were  as  fanciful  as  the  numbers  were  arbitrary. 
It  adds  nothing,  even  to  the  imagination,  to  speak  of 
an  aerial,  a  sidereal,  and  a  spiritual  heaven,  and  to 
suppose  that  these  are  meant  by  Paul ;  we  can  only 
think  vaguely  of  the  "  man  in  Christ  "  rising  through 
one  celestial  region  after  another  till  he  came  even  to 
the  third.  The  word  chosen  to  define  the  distance 
(eo)?)  suggests  that  an  impression  of  vast  spaces 
traversed  remained  on  the  Apostle's  mind ;  and  that 
the  third  heaven,  on  which  his  sentence  pauses,  and 
which  is  a  resting-place  for  his  memory,  was  also  a 
station,  so  to  speak,  in  his  rapture.  This  is  the  only 
.supposition  which  does  justice  to  the  resumption  in 
ver.  3  ®f  the  deliberate  and  circumstantial  language  of 
ver.  2.  ''  And  I  know  such  a  man — whether  in  the 
body  or  apart  from  the  body  (I  know  not)  God  knoweth 


xi.  30-xii.  10.]     STRENGTH  AND    WEAKNESS  349 

— how  that  he  was  caught  up  into  Paradise,  and  heard 
unspeakable  words  that  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to 
utter."  This  is  a  resumption,  not  a  repetition.  Paul 
is  not  elaborately  telling  the  same  story  over  again, 
but  he  is  carrying  it  on,  with  the  same  full  circum- 
stance, the  same  grave  asseveration,  from  the  point 
at  which  he  halted.  The  rapture  had  a  second  stage, 
under  the  same  incomprehensible  conditions,  and  in  it 
the  Christian  man  passed  out  and  up  from  the  third 
heaven  into  Paradise.  Many  of  the  Jews  believed  in 
a  Paradise  beneath  the  earth,  the  abode  of  the  souls 
of  the  good  while  they  awaited  their  perfecting  at 
the  Resurrection  (cf.  Luke  xvi.  23  ff.,  xxiii.  43)  ;  but 
obviously  this  cannot  be  the  idea  here.  We  must 
think  rather  of  what  the  Apocalypse  calls  **  the  Para- 
dise of  God "  (ii.  7),  where  the  tree  of  life  grows, 
and  where  those  who  overcome  have  their  reward. 
It  is  an  abode  of  unimaginable  blessedness,  *'  far  above 
all  heavens,"  to  use  the  Apostle's  own  words  elsewhere 
(Eph.  iv.  10).  What  visions  he  had,  or  what  revela- 
tions, during  that  pause  in  the  third  heaven,  Paul  does 
not  say ;  and  at  this  supreme  point  of  his  rapture, 
in  Paradise,  the  words  he  heard  were  words  un- 
speakable, which  it  is  not  lawful  for  man  to  utter. 
Mortal  ears  might  hear,  but  mortal  lips  might  not 
repeat,  sounds  so  mysterious  and  divine :  it  was  not 
for  ma7t  (dvOpooTrcp  is  qualitative)  to  utter  them.  I 

But  why,  we  ma^'  ask,  if  this  rapture  has  its  mean- 
ing and  value  solely  for  the  Apostle,  should  he  refer 
to  it  here  at  all  ?  Why  should  he  make  such  solemn 
statements  about  an  experience,  the  historical  conditions 
of  which,  as  he  is  careful  to  assure  us,  are  incompre- 
hensible, while  its  spiritual  content  is  a  secret  ?  Is 
not  such  an   experience  literally  nothing  to  us  ?     No, 


350    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

unless  Paul  himself  is  nothing ;  for  this  experience  was 
evidently  a  great  thing  to  him.  It  was  the  most  sacred 
privilege  and  honour  he  had  ever  known ;  it  was 
among  his  strongest  sources  of  inspiration ;  it  had 
a  powerful  tendency  to  generate  spiritual  pride  ;  and 
it  had  its  accompaniment,  and  its  counter-weight,  in 
his  sharpest  trial.  The  world  knows  little  of  its 
greatest  men  ;  perhaps  we  very  rarely  know  what  are 
the  great  things  in  the  lives  even  of  the  people  who 
are  round  about  us.  Paul  had  kept  silence  about  this 
sublime  experience  for  fourteen  years,  and  no  man  had 
ever  guessed  it ;  it  had  been  a  secret  between  the  Lord 
and  His  disciple ;  and  they  only,  who  were  in  the 
secret,  could  rightly  interpret  all  that  depended  upon 
it.  There  is  a  kind  of  profanity  in  forcing  the  heart  to 
show  itself  too  far,  in  compelling  a  man  to  speak  about, 
even  though  he  does  not  divulge,  the  things  that  it  is 
not  lawful  to  utter.  The  Corinthians  had  put  this 
profane  compulsion  on  the  Apostle ;  but  though  he 
yields  to  it,  it  is  in  a  way  which  keeps  clear  of  the 
profanity.  He  tells  what  he  dare  tell  in  the  third 
person,  and  then  goes  on  :  ''  On  behalf  of  such  a  one 
will  I  glory,  but  on  behalf  of  myself  will  I  not  glory, 
save  in  my  infirmities."  Removere  debemus  to  ego  a 
rebus  luagnis  (Bengel)  :  there  are  things  too  great  to 
allow  the  intrusion  of  self  Paul  does  not  choose  to 
identify  the  poor  Apostle  whom  the  Corinthians  and 
their  misleading  teachers  used  so  badly  with  the  man 
in  Christ  who  had  such  inconceivable  honour  put  on 
him  by  the  Lord  ;  if  he  does  boast  on  behalf  of  such  a 
one,  and  magnify  his  subhme  experiences,  at  all  events 
he  does  not  transfer  his  prerogatives  to  himself]  he' 
does  not  say,  *'  /  am  that  incomparably  honoured  man ; 
reverence  in  me  a  special  favourite  of  Christ."     On  the 


xi.  30-xii.  10.]     STRENGTH  AND   WEAKNESS  351 

contrary,  where  his  own  interest  has  to  be  forwarded, 
he  will  glory  in  nothing  but  his  weaknesses.  The  one 
thing  about  which  he  is  anxious  is  that  men  should 
not  think  too  highly  of  him,  nor  go  in  their  apprecia- 
tion beyond  what  their  experience  of  him  as  a  man 
and  a  teacher  justifies  (ver.  6).  He  might,  indeed, 
boast,  reasonably  enough  ;  for  the  truth  would  suffice, 
without  any  foolish  exaggeration  ;  but  he  forbears,  for 
the  reason  just  stated.  We  are  familiar  with  the 
danger  of  thinking  too  highly  of  ourselves  ;  it  is  as 
real  a  danger,  though  probably  a  less  considered  one, 
to  be  too  highly  thought  of  by  others.  Paul  dreaded 
it ;  50  does  every  wise  man.  To  be  highly  thought 
of,  where  the  character  is  sincere  and  unpretentious, 
may  be  a  protection,  and  even  an  inspiration ;  but  to 
have  a  reputation,  morally,  that  one  does  not  deserve — 
to  be  counted  good  in  respects  in  which  one  is  really 
bad — is  to  have  a  frightful  difficulty  added  to  penitence 
and  amendment.  It  puts  one  in  a  radically  false 
position ;  it  generates  and  fosters  hypocrisy ;  it  ex- 
plains a  vast  mass  of  spiritual  ineffectiveness.  The 
man  who  is  insincere  enough  to  be  puffed  up  by  it  is 
not  far  from  judgment. 

But  to  return  to  the  text.  Paul  wishes  to  be  humble  ; 
he  is  content  that  men  should  take  him  as  they  find 
him,  infirmities  and  all.  He  has  that  about  him,  too, 
and  not  unconnected  with  these  high  experiences,  the 
very  purpose  of  w^hich  is  to  keep  him  humble.  If  the 
text  is  correct,^  he  expresses  himself  with  some  embar- 
rassment. "  And  by  reason  of  the  exceeding  greatness 
of  the    revelations — wherefore,   that    I   should   not   be 

'  The  editors  vary  greatly  in  punctuation,  especially  as  they  do  or 
do  not  insert  5i6  before  the  first  tva  firj  virepaipcofiai.  Westcott  and 
Hort  suspect  some  primitive  error. 


352     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

exalted  overmuch,  there  was  given  to  me  a  thorn  in 
the  flesh,  a  messenger  of  Satan  to  buffet  me,  that 
I  should  not  be  exalted  overmuch."  The  repetition 
of  the  last  word  shows  where  the  emphasis  lies  :  Paul 
has  a  deep  and  constant  sense  of  the  danger  of  spiritual 
pride,  and  he  knows  that  he  would  fall  into  it  unless 
a  strong  counter-pressure  were  kept  up  upon  him. 

I  do  not  feel  called  on  to  add  another  to  the  number- 
less disquisitions  on  Paul's  thorn  in  the  flesh.  The 
resources  of  imagination  having  been  exhausted,  people 
,  are  returning  to  the  obvious.  The  thorn  in  the  flesh  ^ 
was  something  painful,  which  affected  the  Apostle's 
body ;  it  was  something  in  its  nature  purely  physical, 
not  a  solicitation  to  any  kind  of  sin,  such  as  sensuality 
or  pride,  else  he  would  not  have  ceased  to  pray  for 
its  removal  ;  it  was  something  terribly  humbling,  if 
not  humiliating — an  affection  which  might  well  have 
excited  the  contempt  and  loathing  of  those  who  beheld 
it  (Gal.  iv.  14,  which  probably  refers  to  this  subject)  ; 
it  had  begun  after,  if  not  in  consequence  of,  the  rapture 
just  described,  and  stood  in  a  spiritual,  if  not  a  physical, 
relation  to  it ;  it  was,  if  not  chronic  or  periodic,  at 
least  recurrent ;  the  Apostle  knew  that  it  would  never 
leave  him.  What  known  malady,  incident  to  human 
nature,  fulfils  all  these  conditions,  it  is  not  possible 
with  perfect  certainty  to  say.  A  considerable  mass 
of  competent  opinion  supports  the  idea  that  it  must 
have   been   liability   to   epileptic   seizures.^      Such   an 

'  For  the  meaning  "thorn,"  not  "stake"  or  "cross,"  see  Ezek. 
xxviii.  24  ;  Hosea  ii.  8  (6);  Num.  xxxiii.  55. 

*  I  should  lay  no  stress  here  on  what  some  so  much  insist  upon — 
the  use  of  e^eTrri^crare  in  Gal.  iv.  14,  and  the  fact  that  morbus  despui 
suetus  is  a  name  for  epilepsy :  eKirHetv  does  not  mean  ciespuere,  and 
after  e^ovdevelv  it  is  necessarily  metaphorical. 


xi.  30-xii.  10.]      STRENGTH  AND   1VEAKNESS  353 

infirmity  Paul  might  have  suffered  under  in  common 
with  men  so  great  as  Juhus  Caesar  and  the  first 
Napoleon,  as  Mahomet,  King  Alfred,  and  Peter  the 
Great.  But  it  does  not  quite  satisfy  the  conditions. 
Epileptic  attacks,  if  they  occur  with  any  frequency 
at  all,  invariably  cause  mental  deterioration.  Now, 
Paul  distinctly  suggests  that  the  thorn  was  a  very 
steady  companion ;  and  as  his  mind,  in  spite  of  it, 
grew  year  after  year  in  the  apprehension  of  the  Chris- 
tian revelation,  so  that  his  last  thoughts  are  always  his 
largest  and  best,  the  epileptic  hypothesis  has  its  diffi- 
culties like  every  other.  Is  it  likely  that  a  man  who 
suffered  pretty  constantly  from  nervous  convulsions  of 
this  kind  wrote  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
after  fourteen  years  of  them,  or  the  Epistles  to  the 
Romans,  Philippians,  Colossians,  and  Ephesians  later 
still  ?  There  is,  of  course,  no  religious  interest  in 
affirming  or  denying  any  physical  explanation  of 
the  matter  whatever ;  but  with  our  present  data  I 
do  not  think  a  certain  explanation  is  within  our 
reach. 

The  Apostle  himself  is  not  interested  in  it  as  a 
physical  affection.  He  speaks  of  it  because  of  its 
spiritual  significance,  and  because  of  the  wonderful 
spiritual  experiences  he  has  had  in  connexion  with  it. 
It  was  given  him,  he  says :  but  by  whom  ?  When 
we  think  of  the  purpose — to  save  him  from  spiritual 
pride — we  instinctively  answer,  "  God."  And  that,  it  can 
hardly  be  doubted,  would  have  been  the  Apostle's  own 
answer.  Yet  he  does  not  hesitate  to  call  it  in  the  same  ', 
breath  a  messenger  of  Satan.  The  name  is  dictated  j 
by  the  inborn,  ineradicable  shrinking  of  the  soul  from 
pain  ;  that  agonising,  humiliating,  annihilating  thing, 
we  feel  at  the  bottom  of  our  hearts,  is  not  really  of 

23 


354     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

God,  even  when  it  does  His  work.  In  His  perfect 
world  pain  shall  be  no  more.  It  does  not  need  science, 
but  experience,  to  put  these  things  together,  and  to 
understand  at  once  the  evil  and  the  good  of  suffering. 
Paul,  at  first,  like  all  men,  found  the  evil  overpowering. 
The  pain,  the  weakness,  the  degradation  of  his  malady, 
were  intolerable.  He  could  not  understand  that  only 
a  pressure  so  pitiless  and  humbling  could  preserve  him 
from  spiritual  pride  and  a  spiritual  fall.  We  are  all 
slow  to  learn  anything  like  this.  We  think  we  can 
take  warning,  that  a  word  will  be  enough,  that  at  most 
the  memory  of  a  single  pang  will  suffice  to  keep  us 
safe.  But  pains  remain  with  us,  and  the  pressure  is 
continuous  and  unrelieved,  because  the  need  of  con- 
,  straint  and  of  discipline  is  ceaseless.  The  crooked 
branch  will  not  bend  in  a  new  curve  if  it  is  only 
tied  to  it  for  half  an  hour.  The  sinful  bias  in  our 
natures — to  pride,  to  sensuality,  to  falsehood,  or  what- 
ever else — will  not  be  cured  by  one  sharp  lesson.  The 
commonest  experience  in  human  life  is  that  the  man 
whom  sickness  and  pain  have  humbled  for  the  moment, 
the  very  moment  their  constraint  is  lifted,  resumes  his 
;  old  habit.  He  does  not  think  so,  but  it  is  really  the 
i  Hiorn  that  has  been  keeping  him  right ;  and  when  its 
snarpness  is  blunted,  the  edge  is  taken  from  his  con- 
science too. 

Paul  besought  the  Lord,  that  is  Christ,  thrice,  that 
this  thing  might  depart  from  him.  The  Lord,  we  may 
be  sure,  had  full  sympathy  with  that  prayer.  He 
Himself  had  had  His  agony,  and  prayed  the  Father 
thrice  that  if  it  were  possible  the  cup  of  pain  might 
pass  from  Him.  He  prayed,  indeed,  in  express  sub- 
mission to  the  Father's  will;  the  voice  of  nature  was 
not  allowed  in  Him  to  urge  an  unconditional  peremptory 


xi.  30-xii.  10.]     STRENGTH  AND   WEAKNESS  355 


request.  Perhaps  in  Paul  on  this  occasion — certainly 
often  in  most  men — it  is  nature,  the  flesh  and  not  the 
spirit,  which  prompts  the  prayer.  But  God  is  all  the 
while  guarding  the  spirit's  interest  as  the  higher,  and 
this  explains  the  many  real  answers  to  prayer  which 
seem  to  be  refusals.  A  refusal  ^5  an  answer,  if  it  is 
so  given  that  God  and  the  soul  thenceforth  understand 
one  another.  It  was  thus  that  Paul  was  answered 
by  Christ :  '^  He  hath  said  to  me,  My  grace  is  suffi- 
cient for  thee :  for  [My]  strength  is  made  perfect  in 
weakness." 

The  first  point  to  notice  in  this  answer  is  the  tense 
of  the  verb:  "He  hath  said."  The  A.V.  with  ^' He 
said  "  misses  the  point.  The  sentence  is  present  as 
well  as  past;  it  is  Christ's  continuous,  as  well  as 
final,  answer  to  Paul's  prayer.  The  Apostle  has  been 
made  to  understand  that  the  thorn  must  remain  in 
his  flesh,  but  along  with  this  he  has  received  the 
assurance  of  an  abiding  love  and  help  from  the  Lord. 
We  remember,  even  by  contrast,  the  stern  answer 
made  to  Moses  when  he  prayed  that  he  might  be 
permitted  to  cross  Jordan  and  see  the  goodly  land — 
*'  Let  it  suffice  thee :  speak  no  more  unto  Me  of  this 
matter."  Paul  also  could  no  more  ask  for  the  removal 
of  the  thorn  :  it  was  the  Lord's  will  that  he  should 
submit  to  it  for  high  spiritual  ends,  and  to  pray  against 
it  would  now  have  been  a  kind  of  impiety.  But  it  is 
no  longer  an  unrelieved  pain  and  humiliation  ;  the 
Apostle  is  supported  under  it  by  that  grace  of  Christ 
which  finds  in  the  need  and  abjectness  of  men  the 
opportunity  of  showing  in  all  perfection  its  own  con- 
descending strength.  The  collocation  of  "  grace  "  and 
"strength"  in  the  ninth  verse  is  characteristic  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  very  significant.     There  are  many 


156     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 


to  whom  **  grace "  is  a  holy  word  with  no  particular 
meaning;  ''  the  grace  of  God,"  or  **  the  grace  of  the  Lord 
Tesus  Christ,"  is  only  a  vague  benignity,  which  may 
fairly  enough  be  spoken  of  as  a  "  smile."  But  grace,  in 
the  New  Testament,  is  force  :  it  is  a  heavenly  strength 
bestowed  on  men  for  timely  succour  ;  it  finds  its  oppor- 
tunity in  our  extremity ;  when  our  weakness  makes  us 
incapable  of  doing  anything,  it  gets  full  scope  to  work. 
This  is  the  meaning  of  the  last  words — ''  strength  is  made 
perfect  in  weakness."  The  truth  is  quite  general  :  it 
is  an  application  of  it  to  the  case  in  hand  if  w^e  translate 
\  as  in  the  A.  V.  (with  some  MSS.)  :  ''  My  strength  is  made 
perfect  in  [thy]  weakness."  It  is  enough,  the  Lord  tells 
Paul,  that  he  has  this  heavenly  strength  unceasingly 
bestowed  upon  him ;  the  weakness  which  he  has  found 
so  hard  to  bear — that  distressing  malady  which  humbled 
him  and  took  his  vigour  away — is  but  the  foil  to  it : 
it  serves  to  magnify  it,  and  to  set  it  off;  with  that  Paul 
should  be  content. 

And  he  is  content.  That  answer  to  his  thrice- 
repeated  prayer  works  a  revolution  in  his  heart ;  he 
looks  at  all  that  had  troubled  him — at  all  that  he  had 
deprecated — with  new  eyes.  ''  Most  gladly  therefore 
will  I  rather  glory  in  my  infirmities — that  is,  glory 
rather  than  bemoan  them  or  pray  for  their  removal — 
that  the  power  of  Christ  may  spread  its  tabernacle  over 
me."  This  compensation  far  outweighed  the  trial.  He 
has  ceased  to  speak  now  of  the  visions  and  revelations, 
perhaps  he  has  ceased  already  to  think  of  them ;  he 
is  conscious  only  of  the  weakness  and  suffering  from 
which  he  is  never  to  escape,  and  of  the  grace  of  Christ 
which  hovers  over  him,  and  out  of  weakness  and 
suffering  makes  him  strong.  His  very  infirmities 
redound  to  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  so  he  chooses 


xi.  30-xii.  lo.]      STRENGTH  AND   WEAKNESS  357 

them,  rather  than  his  rapture  into  Paradise,  as  matter 
for  boasting.  "  For  this  cause  I  am  well  content,  on 
Christ's  behalf/  in  infirmities,  in  insults,  in  necessities, 
in  persecutions  and  distresses ;  for  when  I  am  weak, 
then  am  I  strong." 

With  this  noble  word  Paul  concludes  his  enforced 
**  glorying."  He  was  not  happy  in  it ;  it  was  not  like 
him  ;  and  it  is  a  triumph  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  him 
that  he  gives  it  such  a  noble  turn,  and  comes  out  of 
it  so  well.  There  is  a  tinge  of  irony  in  the  first 
passage  (chap.  xi.  21)  in  which  he  speaks  of  weakness, 
and  fears  that  in  comparison  with  his  high-handed 
rivals  at  Corinth  he  will  only  have  this  to  boast  about ; 
but  as  he  enters  into  his  real  experience,  and  tells  us 
what  he  had  borne  for  Christ,  and  what  he  had  learned 
in  pain  and  prayer  about  the  laws  of  the  spiritual  life, 
all  irony  passes  away ;  the  pure  heroic  heart  opens 
before  us  to  its  depths.  The  practical  lessons  of  the 
last  paragraphs  are  as  obvious  as  they  are  important. 
That  the  greatest  spiritual  experiences  are  incommunic- 
able ;  that  even  the  best  men  are  in  danger  of  elation 
and  pride  ;  that  the  tendency  of  these  sins  is  immensely 
strong,  and  can  only  be  restrained  by  constant  pressure  ; 
that  pain,  though  one  day  to  be  abolished,  is  a  means 
of  discipline  actually  used  by  God ;  that  it  may  be  a 
plain  duty  to  accept  some  suffering,  or  sickness,  even 
a  humbling  and  distressing  one,  as  God's  will  for 
our  good,  and  not  to  pray  more  for  its  removal ;  that 
God's  grace  is  given  to  those  who  so  accept  His  will, 
as  a  real  reinforcement  of  their  strength,  nay,  as  a  sub- 
stitute, and  far  more,  for  the  strength  which  they  have 


Construe  virkp  Xpiarou  with  evdonQ. 


358     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

not ;  that  weakness,  therefore,  and  helplessness,  as 
foils  to  the  present  help  of  God,  may  actually  be 
occasions  of  glorying  to  the  Christian, —  all  these,  and 
many  more,  are  gathered  up  in  this  passionate  Apologia 
of  Paul. 


XXVII 

NOT    YOURS,    BUT    YOU 

"  I  am  become  foolish  :  ye  compelled  me  ;  for  I  ought  to  have  been 
commended  of  you  :  for  in  nothing  was  I  behind  the  very  chiefest 
apostles,  though  I  am  nothing.  Truly  the  signs  of  an  apostle  v^^ere 
wrought  among  you  in  all  patience,  by  signs  and  wonders  and 
mighty  works.  For  what  is  there  wherein  ye  were  made  inferior  to 
the  rest  of  the  Churches,  except  it  be  that  I  myself  was  not  a  burden 
to  you  ?  forgive  me  this  wrong. 

"  Behold,  this  is  the  third  time  I  am  ready  to  come  to  you  ;  and  I 
will  not  be  a  burden  to  you  :  for  I  seek  not  yours,  but  you :  for  the 
children  ought  not  to  lay  up  for  the  parents,  but  the  parents  for  the 
children.  And  I  will  most  gladly  spend  and  be  spent  for  your 
souls.  If  I  love  you  more  abundantly,  am  I  loved  the  less  ?  But 
be  it  so,  I  did  not  myself  burden  you ;  but,  being  crafty,  I  caught 
you  with  guile.  Did  I  take  advantage  of  you  by  anj'^  one  of  them 
whom  I  have  sent  unto  you  ?  I  exhorted  Titus,  and  I  sent  the 
brother  with  him.  Did  Titus  take  any  advantage  of  you  ?  walked 
we  not  by  the  same  Spirit  ?  walked  we  not  in  the  same  steps  ? 

"  Ye  think  all  this  time  that  we  are  excusing  ourselves  unto  you.  In 
the  sight  of  God  speak  we  in  Christ.  But  all  things,  beloved,  are  for 
your  edifying.  For  I  fear,  lest  by  any  means,  when  I  come,  I  should 
find  you  not  such  as  I  would,  and  should  myself  be  found  of  you  such 
as  ye  would  not;  lest  by  any  means  tJiere  should  be  strife,  jealous}', 
wraths,  factions,  backbitings,  whisperings,  swellings,  tumults ;  lest, 
when  I  come  again,  my  God  should  humble  me  before  you,  and  I 
should  mourn  for  many  of  them  that  have  sinned  heretofore,  and 
repented  not  of  the  uncleanness  and  fornication  and  lasciviousness 
which  they  committed." — 2  Cor.  xii.   11-21   (R.V.). 

EXPOSITORS  differ  widely  in  characterising  the 
three  or  four  brief  paragraphs  into  which  this 
passage  may  be  divided  :  (i)  vv.  11-13  ;  (2)  vv.  14,  15, 
and  vv.   16-18;  (3)  vv.  19-21.     What  is  clear  is,  that 

359 


36o     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

we  feel  in  it  the  ground-swell  of  the  storm  that  has 
raged  through  the  last  two  chapters,  and  that  it  is  not 
till  the  beginning  of  chap.  xiii.  that  the  Apostle  finally 
escapes  from  this,  and  takes  up  an  authoritative  and 
decisive  attitude  to  the  Corinthians.  When  he  does 
reach  Corinth,  it  will  not  be  to  explain  and  justify 
his  own  conduct,  either  against  rivals  or  those  whom 
rivals  have  misled,  but  to  take  prompt  and  vigorous 
action  against  disorders  in  the  life  of  the  Church, 

(i)  A  review  of  what  he  has  just  written  leads  to 
a  burst  of  indignant  remonstrance.  ''  I  have  become 
foolish."  The  emphasis  is  on  the  verb,  not  on  the 
adjective  ;  it  is  the  painful  fact  that  the  eleventh  chapter 
of  Second  Corinthians  is  a  thing  that  no  wise  man 
would  have  written  if  he  had  been  left  to  himself  and 
his  wisdom.  Paul,  who  was  a  wise  man,  felt  this,  and 
it  stung  him.  He  resented  the  compulsion  which  was 
put  upon  him  by  the  ingratitude  and  faithlessness  of 
the  Corinthians.  The  situation  ought  to  have  been 
exactly  reversed.  When  he  was  defamed  by  strangers, 
then  they,  who  knew  him,  instead  of  hearkening  to  the 
calumniators,  ought  to  have  stood  up  in  his  defence. 
But  they  basely  left  him  to  defend  himself,  to  plead  his 
own  cause,  to  become  a  fool  by  ''  glorying."  This  kind 
of  compulsion  should  never  be  put  upon  a  good  man, 
especially  a  man  to  whom,  under  God,  we  ourselves 
have  been  deeply  indebted.  The  services  he  has 
rendered  constitute  a  claim  on  our  loyalty,  and  it  is 
a  duty  of  affection  to  guard  his  character  against  dis- 
paragement and  malice. 

Paul,  in  his  deep  consciousness  of  being  wronged, 
presses  home  the  charge  against  the  Corinthians. 
They  had  every  reason,  he  tells  them,  to  act  as  his 
advocates.     When  he   was   among   them,   he   was   in 


xii.  II-2I.]  NOT   YOURS,  BUT    YOU  361 

nothing  inferior  to  the  "  superlative  "  Apostles — this  is 
his  last  flout  at  the  Judaist  interlopers— nothing  though 
he  was.  The  signs  that  prove  a  man  to  be  an  apostle 
were  wrought  among  them  (the  passive  expression 
keeps  his  agency  in  the  background)  in  all  patience, 
by  signs  and  wonders  and  mighty  deeds.  Their  suspi- 
cions of  him,  their  willingness  to  listen  to  insinuations 
against  him,  after  such  an  experience,  were  unpardon- 
able. He  can  only  think  of  one  "  sign  of  the  apostle  " 
which  was  not  wrought  among  them  by  his  means,  of 
one  point  in  which  he  had  made  them  inferior  to  the 
other  Churches  :  he  had  not  burdened  them  with  his 
support.  They  were  the  spoilt  children  of  the  apos- 
tolic family ;  and  he  begs  them,  with  bitter  irony,  to 
forgive  him  this  wrong.  If  they  had  only  been  con- 
verted by  a  man  who  stood  upon  his  rights  I  ^ 

^'  The  signs  of  an  apostle  "  are  frequently  refeiTed  to 
in  Paul's  Epistles,  and  are  of  various  kinds.  By  far  the 
most  important,  and  the  most  frequently  insisted  on,  is 
success  in  evangelistic  work.  He  who  converts  men 
and  founds  Churches  has  the  supreme  and  final  attesta- 
tion of  apostleship,  as  Paul  conceives  it.  It  is  to  this 
he  appeals  in  i  Cor.  ix.  2 ;  2  Cor.  iii.  1-3.  In  the 
passage  before  us  Calvin  makes  *'  patience  "  a  sign — 
primum  signiim  noniinat  patientiam.  Patience  is  cer- 
tainly a  characteristic  Christian  virtue,  and  it  is  magni- 

'  k\}Th%  ty6  in  ver.  13  has  a  peculiar  emphasis,  not  easily  explained. 
It  cannot  mean  "  /  did  not,  though  my  assistants  did,"  for  this  is 
denied  in  ver.  18.  Neither  can  it  mean  "/  did  not,  though  the 
Judaists  did,"  for  whatever  is  opposed  to  avrbs  iyu)  must  nevertheless 
be  conceived  here  as  belonging  to  the  same  category,  -which  the 
Judaists  did  not.  Possibly  it  only  separates  the  person  expressly 
from  his  ivorks,  just  recited,  and  has  the  same  sort  of  value  as  in 
Rom.  ix.  3,  where  it  emphasises  the  person  as  opposed  to  the  heart 
and  conscience. 


362     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE    TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

ficently  exercised  in  the  apostolic  life  ;  but  it  is  not 
peculiarly  apostolic.  Patience  in  the  passage  before 
us,  "every  kind  of  patience,"  rather  brings  before 
our  minds  the  conditions  under  which  Paul  did  his 
apostolic  work.  Discouragements  of  every  descrip- 
tion, bad  health,  suspicion,  dislike,  contempt,  moral 
apathy  and  moral  licence — the  weight  of  all  these  pressed 
upon  him  heavily,  but  he  bore  up  under  them,  and  did 
not  suffer  them  to  break  his  spirit  or  to  arrest  his 
labours.  His  endurance  was  a  match  for  them  all, 
and  the  power  of  Christ  that  was  in  him  broke  forth 
in  spite  of  them  in  apostolic  signs.  There  were  con- 
versions, in  the  first  place  ;  but  there  were  also  what  he 
calls  here  "signs  [in  a  narrower  sense],  and  wonders,  and 
mighty  deeds."  This  is  an  express  claim,  like  that  made 
in  Acts  XV.  12,  Rom.  xv.  19,  to  have  wrought  what  we 
call  miracles.  The  three  words  represent  miracles  under 
three  different  aspects:  they  are  "signs"  {arjixela),  as 
addressed  to  man's  intelligence,  and  conveying  a  spiritual 
meaning  ;  they  are  "  wonders  "  (repara),  as  giving  a 
shock  to  feeling,  and  moving  nature  in  those  depths 
which  sleep  through  common  experience ;  and  they  are 
"  mighty  works  "  or  "  powers  "  (Bvvd/jL€i<;)f  as  arguing  in 
him  who  works  them  a  more  than  human  efficiency. 
But  no  doubt  the  main  character  they  bore  in  the 
Apostle's  mind  was  that  of  'x^apla-fiara,  or  gifts  of  grace, 
which  God  ministered  to  the  Church  by  His  Spirit.  It 
is  natural  for  an  unbeliever  to  misunderstand  even  New 
Testament  miracles,  because  he  wishes  to  conceive 
them,  as  it  were,  m  vacuo,  or  in  relation  to  the  laws  of 
nature  ;  in  the  New  Testament  itself  they  are  conceived 
in  relation  to  the  Holy  Ghost.  Even  Jesus  is  said  in 
the  Gospels  to  have  cast  out  devils  by  the  Spirit  of 
God ;  and  when    Paul  wrought    "  signs   and  wonders 


xii.  11-21.]  NOT   YOURS,   BUT   YOU  363 

and  powers,"  it  was  in  carrying  out  his  apostolic  work 
graced  by  the  same  Spirit.  What  things  he  had  done 
in  Corinth  we  have  no  means  of  knowing,  but  the 
Corinthians  knew ;  and  they  knew  that  these  things 
had  no  arbitrary  or  accidental  character,  but  were  the 
tokens  of  a  Christian  and  an  apostle. 

(2)  In  the  second  paragraph  Paul  turns  abruptly 
(iSou,  "  behold  1 ")  from  the  past  to  the  future.  ''  This 
is  the  third  time  I  am  ready  to  come  to  you,  and  I 
will  not  burden  you."  The  first  clause  has  the  same 
ambiguity  in  Greek  as  in  EngHsh  ;  it  is  impossible  to 
tell  from  the  words  alone  whether  he  had  been  already 
twice,  or  only  once,  in  Corinth.  Other  considerations 
decide,  I  think,  that  he  had  been  twice ;  but  of  course 
these  cannot  affect  the  construction  of  this  verse :  for 
the  third  time  he  is  in  a  state  of  readiness — this  is  all 
the  words  will  yield.  But  when  he  makes  the  new 
visit,  whether  it  be  his  third  or  only  his  second,  one 
thing  he  has  decided  :  he  will  act  on  the  same  principle 
as  before,  and  decline  to  be  a  burden  to  them.  He 
does  not  speak  of  it  boastfully  now,  as  in  chap.  xi.  10, 
for  his  adversaries  have  passed  out  of  view,  but  in  one 
of  the  most  movingly  tender  passages  in  the  whole 
Bible.  "  I  will  not  lie  on  you  like  a  benumbing  weight, 
for  I  seek  not  yours,  but  you."  It  is  not  his  own 
interest  which  brings  him  to  Corinth  again,  but  theirs ; 
it  is  not  avarice  which  impels  him,  but  love.  In  a 
sense,  indeed,  love  makes  the  greater  claim  of  the  two ; 
it  is  far  more  to  demand  the  heart  than  to  ask  for 
money.  Yet  the  greater  claim  is  the  less  selfish,  indeed 
is  the  purely  unselfish  one  ;  for  it  can  only  be  really 
made  by  one  who  gives  all  that  he  demands.  Paul's 
own  heart  was  pledged  to  the  Corinthians  ;  and  when 
he  said  *'  I  seek  you,''  he  did  not  mean  that  he  sought 


364     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

to  make  a  party  of  them,  or  a  faction,  in  the  interest 
of  his  own  ambition,  but  that  the  one  thing  he  cared 
for  was  the  good  of  their  souls.  Nor  in  saying  so  does 
he  claim  to  be  doing  anything  unusual  or  extraordinary. 
It  is  only  what  becomes  him  as  their  father  in  Christ 
(i  Cor.  iv.  15).  "I  SQok  you]  for  the  children  ought 
not  to  lay  up  for  the  parents,  but  the  parents  for  the 
children."  Filial  duty,  of  course,  is  not  denied  here  ; 
Paul  is  simply  bringing  himself  as  the  spiritual  father 
of  the  Corinthians  under  the  general  rule  of  nature 
that  "  love  descends  rather  than  ascends."  If  this 
seems  a  hard  saying  to  a  child's  heart,  it  is  at  least 
true  that  it  descends  before  it  ascends.  It  all  begins 
from  God  :  in  a  family,  it  all  begins  from  the  parents. 
The  primary  duty  of  love  is  parental  care  ;  and  nothing 
is  more  unnatural,  though  at  a  certain  level  it  is 
common  enough,  than  the  desire  of  parents  to  make 
money  out  of  their  children  as  quickly  and  as  plentifully 
as  possible,  without  considering  the  ulterior  interests 
of  the  children  themselves.  This  kind  of  selfishness 
is  very  transparent,  and  is  very  naturally  avenged  by 
ingratitude,  and  the  Apostle  for  his  part  renounces  it. 
"/,"  he  exclaims,  with  all  the  emphasis  in  his  power — 
"/have  more  than  a  natural  father's  love  for  you.  I 
will  with  all  gladness  spend,  yes,  and  be  spent  to  the 
uttermost,  for  your  souls  !  I  will  give  what  I  have, 
3^es,  and  all  that  I  am,  that  you  may  be  profited." 
And  then  he  checks  that  rush  of  affection,  and  dams 
up  the  overflowing  passion  of  his  heart  in  the  abrupt 
poignant  question  :  "  If  I  love  you  more  abundantly, 
am  I  loved  less  ?  "  ^ 

'  This  is  the  reading  of  our  Revisers,  and  of  Westcott  and  Hort's 
text.  In  their  margin  they  read  :  "  I  will  very  gladly  spend,  etc,  if 
loving  you   [a-yatrCov  instead  of  ayairO)]   more  abundantly  I  am  levied 


xii.  11-21.]  NOT  YOURS,  BUT  YOU  365 

This  is  not  the  first  passage  in  the  Epistle,  nor,  near 
as  we  are  to  the  end,  is  it  the  last,  in  which  Paul  shows 
us  the  true  spirit  of  the  Christian  pastor.  "  Not  yours, 
but  you,"  is  the  motto  of  every  minister  who  has  learned 
of  Christ;  and  the  noble  words  of  ver.  15,  "I  will 
very  gladly  spend  and  be  spent  to  the  last  for  your 
souls,"  recall  more  nearly  than  any  other  words  in 
Scripture  the  law  by  which  our  Lord  Himself  lived — 
not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give 
life  a  ransom  for  many.  Here,  surely,  is  a  sign  of 
apostleship — an  unmistakable  mark  of  the  man  who  is 
specially  called  to  continue  Christ's  work.  That  work 
cannot  be  done  at  all  except  in  the  spirit  of  Him  who 
inaugurated  it,  and  though  love  like  Paul's,  and  love 
like  Christ's,  may  be  mocked  and  trampled  on,  it  is  the 
only  power  which  has  the  right  to  speak  in  Christ's 
name.  The  joy  of  sacrifice  thrills  through  the  Apostle's 
words,  and  it  is  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost ;  it  is  a  fellow- 
ship with  Christ  in  the  very  life  of  His  life  that  lifts 
Paul,  for  the  moment,  to  the  heavenly  places.  This  is 
the  spirit  in  which  wrong  is  to  be  met,  and  suspicion, 
calumny,  and  contempt ;  it  is  in  this,  if  at  all,  that  we 
can  be  more  than  conquerors.  Nature  says,  "  Stand 
upon  your  rights  ;  vindicate  your  position  ;  insist  on 
having  all  that  you  conceive  to  be  your  due  " ;  but  love 

the  less."  This  reading  and  punctuation  are  adopted  by  a  number 
of  scholars,  but  explained  in  two  ways: — (i)  As  in  the  Authorised 
Version,  '^though  the  more  abundantly,"  etc.  But  d  ("if"),  which  is 
the  true  reading  (not  d  Kai),  cannot  be  translated  "  though."  (2)  By 
others  it  is  rendered,  "  I  will  very  gladly  spend,  etc.,  if  the  more 
abundantly  I  love  you  the  less  I  am  loved  " :  that  is,  "  if  things  have 
come  to  such  a  pass  between  us  that  the  natural  relations  are  utterly 
inverted,  I  will  make  any  sacrifice  to  restore  them  to  a  better  footing." 
This  is  insipid  and  flat  to  the  last  degree :  textual  and  psychological 
considerations  combine  to  support  the  Revisers'  text. 


366     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

says,  ''Spend  and  be  spent,  and  spare  not  till  all  is 
gone ;  life  itself  is  not  too  much  to  give  that  love  may 
triumph  over  wrong." 

It  is  not  possible  to  write  long  as  Paul  writes  in 
these  two  verses  (14  and  15).  The  tension  is  too  great 
both  for  him  and  for  his  readers.  With  eard)  Si — 
*'  But  be  it  so  "—he  descends  from  this  height.  He 
writes  in  the  first  person,  but  he  is  plainly  repeating 
what  he  assumes  others  will  say.  "  Very  well,  then,  let 
that  pass,"  is  the  answer  of  his  enemies  to  his  friends 
when  that  passionate  protestation  is  read.  ''  He  did  not 
himself  prove  burdensome  to  us,  but  being  crafty  he 
brought  us  into  his  net  by  guile.  He  exploited  the 
Church  in  his  own  interest  by  means  of  his  agents." 
This  charge  the  Apostle  meets  with  a  downright 
denial ;  he  can  appeal  to  the  knowledge  which  the 
Corinthians  themselves  possess  of  the  manner  in  which 
his  agents  have  conducted  themselves.  He  had  no 
doubt  had  occasion,  far  oftener  than  we  know,  to  com- 
municate with  so  important  and  so  restless  a  Church ; 
and  he  challenges  the  Corinthians  to  say  that  a  single 
one  of  those  whom  he  had  sent  had  taken  advantage 
of  them.  He  instances — perhaps  as  the  last  of  his 
deputies,  who  had  but  just  returned  from  Corinth  when 
he  wrote  this  letter ;  perhaps  as  the  one  on  whom 
scandal  had  chosen  to  fasten — his  ''partner"  and 
"  fellow-labourer  toward  them,"  Titus ;  and  he  refers  to 
an  unknown  brother  who  had  accompanied  him.  They 
cannot  mean  to  say  (jxi^ti)  that  Titus  took  advantage 
of  them  ?  "  Walked  we  not  in  the  same  Spirit  ?  "  A 
modern  reader  naturally  makes  "  spirit "  subjective, 
and  takes  it  as  equivalent  to  "  the  same  moral  temper 
or  principle  " ;  an  early  Christian  reader  would  more 
probably    think    of    the    Holy    Spirit    as    that   which 


xii.  II-2I.]  NOT  YOURS,  BUT  YOU  367 


ruled  in  Paul  and  Titus  alike.  In  any  case  the  same 
Spirit  led  to  the  same  conduct ;  they  walked  in  the 
same  self-denying  path,  and  scrupulously  abstained 
from  burdening  the  Corinthians  for  their  support. 

(3)  We  feel  the  meanness  of  all  this,  and  are  glad 
when  the  Apostle  finally  turns  his  back  on  it.  It  is  an 
indignity  to  be  compelled  even  to  allude  to  such  things. 
And  the  worst  is,  that  no  care  a  man  can  take  will 
prevent  people  from  misunderstanding  his  indignant 
protest,  and  from  assuming  that  he  is  really  on  his 
trial  before  them,  and  not  improbably  compromised. 
Paul's  mind  is  made  up  to  leave  the  Corinthians  no 
excuse  for  such  misunderstanding  and  presumption. 
In  ver.  19  he  reads  their  ignoble  thought:  "Ye  have 
long^  been  thinking" — i.e.,  all  through  the  last  two 
chapters,  and,  indeed,  more  or  less  all  through  the 
Epistle;  see  chap.  iii.  i — ''that  we  are  making  our 
defence  at  your  bar.  Far  from  it  :  at  God's  bar  we 
speak  in  Christ."  He  will  not  endure,  with  his  visit 
to  Corinth  close  at  hand,  that  there  should  be  any 
misapprehension  as  to  their  relations.  His  responsi- 
bility as  a  Christian  man  is  not  to  them,  but  to  God  ; 
He  is  the  Master  to  whom  he  stands  or  falls  ;  it  is 
He  alone  to  whom  he  has  to  vindicate  his  life.  The 
Corinthians  had  been  seating  themselves  in  imagination 
on  the  tribunal,  and  they  are  summarily  set  on  the 
floor.  But  Paul  does  not  wish  to  be  rude  or  unkind. 
"  You  are  not  my  judges,  certainly,"  he  seems  to  say, 
"  but  all  I  have  said  and  done,  beloved,  all  I  say  and 
do,  is  for  your  building  up  in  Christian  life.  My  heart 
is  with  you  in  it  all,  and  I  sincerely  intend  your  good." 


'  IldXat  is  the  true  reading,  not  TrdXii'.     Westcott  and  Hort  retain 
the  interrogation. 


368     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

We  cannot  sufficiently  admire  the  combination  in  the 
Apostle,  or  rather  the  swift  alternation,  of  all  those 
intellectual  and  emotional  qualities  that  balance  each 
other  in  a  strong  living  character.  He  can  be  at  once 
trenchant  and  tender;  inexorable  in  the  maintenance 
of  a  principle,  nnd  infinitely  sympathetic  and  considerate 
in  his  treatment  of  persons.  We  see  all  his  qualities 
illustrated  here. 

Their  edification  is  the  governing  thought  on  which 
the  last  verses  of  the  chapter  turn,  and  on  which 
eventually  the  whole  Epistle  rests  (see  chap.  xiii.  lo). 
It  is  because  he  is  interested  in  their  edification  that 
he  thinks  with  misgiving  of  the  journey  in  prospect. 
*'  I  fear  lest  by  any  means  when  I  come  I  find  you 
not  such  as  I  would,  and  on  my  part  be  found  of  you 
not  such  as  ye  would."  What  these  two  fears  imply 
is  unfolded  in  due  order  in  the  remainder  of  the  letter. 
The  Corinthians,  such  as  Paul  would  not  have  them, 
are  depicted  in  vv.  20  and  21  ;  Paul,  in  a  character 
in  which  the  Corinthians  would  prefer  not  to  see  him, 
comes  forward  in  chap,  xiii.,  vv.  i-io.  It  is  with  the 
first  only  of  these  two  fears,  the  bad  condition  of  the 
Corinthian  Church,  that  we  are  here  concerned.  This 
first  fear  has  two  grounds.  The  first  is  the  prevalence 
of  sins  which  may  perhaps  be  summarised  as  sins 
of  self-will.  Strife,  jealousy,  passions,  factions  and 
low  factious  arts,  backbitings,  whisperings,  swellings, 
tumults  :  such  is  the  catalogue.  It  illustrates  what  has 
been  well  described  as  "the  carnality  of  religious  con- 
tention." Almost  all  the  sins  here  enumerated  are 
directly  connected  with  the  existence  of  parties  and 
party  feeling  in  the  Church.  They  are  of  a  kind 
which  has  disgraced  the  Church  all  through  its  history, 
and  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  which  is  not  yet  recog- 


xii.  II-2I.]  NOT   YOURS,   BUT   YOU  369 

nised  by  the  great  mass  of  professing  Christians. 
People  do  not  consider  that  the  Church,  as  a  visible 
society,  more  or  less  naturalised  in  the  world,  is  as 
capable  as  any  other  society  of  offering  a  career  to 
ambition,  or  of  furnishing  a  theatre  for  the  talents 
and  the  energies  of  self-seeking  men  ;  and  they  have 
a  vague  idea  that  the  wilfulness,  the  intriguing  and 
factious  arts,  the  jealousy  and  conceit  of  men,  are  better 
things  when  put  to  the  service  of  the  Church  than 
when  employed  in  mere  selfishness.  But  they  are 
not.  They  are  the  very  same,  and  they  are  peculiarly 
odious  when  enHsted  in  His  service  who  was  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart,  and  who  gave  Himself  for  men.  Paul's 
first  hst  of  sins  is  only  too  life-like,  and  the  fear 
grounded  on  it  is  one  which  many  a  modern  minister 
can  share.  The  second  list  is  made  up  of  what  might 
be  called,  in  contrast  with  sins  of  self-will,  sins  of 
self-indulgence — ''  uncleanness,  fornication,  and  lascivi- 
ousness  that  they  wrought."  Both  together  make  up 
what  the  Apostle  calls  the  works  of  the  flesh.  Both 
together  are  the  direct  opposite  of  those  fruits  of  the 
spirit  in  which  the  true  life  of  the  Church  consists. 
Paul  writes  as  if  he  were  more  alarmed  about  the 
sins  of  the  latter  class.  He  puts  /x?)  (''  lest ")  instead  of 
/Lt?;7ra)9  ("  lest  by  any  means  "  :  ver.  20),  marking  thus 
the  chmax,  and  something  like  the  certainty,^  of  his  sad 
apprehension.  "I  fear,"  he  says,  "lest  when  I  come 
again  my  God  should  humble  me  before  you  " — or,  per- 
haps ''  in  connexion  with  you."  Nothing  could  more 
bow  down  a  true  and  loving  heart  like  Paul's  than  to 


'  This  is  also  suggested  by  the  reading  Taweipwaei,  which  Tischendorf 
adopts  in  ver.  21,  with  B,  D,  E,  F,  etc.  N,  A,  K,  followed  by  Westcott 
and  Hort,  have  TatreLvdiarji. 

24 


370     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

see  a  Church  that  he  had  regarded  as  the  seal  of  his 
apostleship — a  congregation  of  men  ''washed,  sancti- 
fied, and  justified" — wallowing  again  in  the  mire  of 
sensual  sins.  He  had  been  proud  of  them,  had  boasted 
of  them,  had  given  thanks  to  God  on  their  behalf :  how 
it  must  have  crushed  him  to  think  that  his  labour  on 
them  had  come  to  this  I  Yet  he  writes  instinctively 
"  my  God."  This  humiliation  does  not  come  to  him 
without  his  Father ;  there  is  a  divine  dispensation  in 
it,  as  far  as  he  is  concerned,  and  he  submits  to  it  as 
such.  He  dare  not  think  of  it  as  a  personal  insult ;  he 
dare  not  think  of  the  sinners  as  if  they  had  offended 
against  him.  He  fears  he  will  have  to  mourn  over 
numbers  of  those  who  have  before  sinned,  and  who  will 
not  have  repented^  of  these  sensualities  before  he  reaches 
Corinth.  In  chap.  v.  2  of  the  First  Epistle  he  sums  up 
his  condemnation  of  the  moral  laxity  of  the  Church  in 
the  presence  of  such  evils  in  the  words  :  Ye  did  not 
mourn.  He  himself  will  not  be  able  to  avoid  mourning  : 
his  heart  grows  heavy  within  him  as  he  thinks  of  what 
he  must  see  before  long.  This,  again,  is  the  spirit  of 
the  true  pastor.  Selfish  anger  has  nothing  healing  in 
it,  nor  has  wounded  pride ;  it  is  not  for  any  man,  how- 
ever good  or  devoted,  to  feel  that  he  is  entitled  to  resent 
it,  as  a  personal  wrong,  when  men  fall  into  sin.  He  is 
not  entitled  to  resent  it,  no  matter  how  much  he  may 
have  spent,  or  how  freely  he  may  have  spent  himself, 
upon  them  ;  but  he  is  bound  to  bewail  it.  He  is  bound 
to  recognise  in  it,  so  far  as  he  himself  is  free  from  re- 
sponsibiHty,  a  dispensation  of  God  intended  to  make 
him  humble  ;  and  in  all  humility  and  love  he  is  bound 


'  It  is  more  natural  to  construe  eTri  tt?  aKaOapalq.  k.t.\.  with  /Ltera- 
vo7}aavT(j}v  than  with  Trcvd^cio. 


11-21.]  NOT   YOURS,   BUT   YOU  371 


to  plead  with  the  lapsed,  not  his  own  cause,  but  God's. 
This  is  the  spirit  in  which  Paul  confronts  the  sad  duties 
awaiting  him  at  Corinth,  and  in  this  again  we  see  "  the 
signs  of  the  apostle." 

The  two  catalogues  of  sins  with  which  this  chapter 
closes  remind  us,  by  way  of  contrast,  of  the  two 
characteristic  graces  of  Christianity  :  self-will  or  party 
spirit,  in  all  its  forms,  is  opposed  to  brotherly  love, 
and  self-indulgence,  in  all  its  forms,  to  personal  purity. 
There  is  much  in  this  Epistle  which  would  be  called 
by  some  people  theological  and  transcendent;  but  no 
one  knew  better  than  Paul  that,  though  Christianity 
must  be  capable  of  an  intellectual  construction,  it  is  not 
an  intellectual  system  in  essence,  but  a  new  moral  life. 
He  was  deeply  concerned,  as  we  have  repeatedly  seen, 
that  the  Corinthians  should  think  right  thoughts  about 
Christ  and  the  Gospel  ;  but  he  was  more  than  concerned, 
he  was  filled  with  grief,  fear,  and  shame,  when  he 
thought  of  the  vices  of  temper  and  of  sensuality  that 
prevailed  among  them.  These  went  to  the  root  of 
Christianity,  and  if  they  could  not  be  destroyed  it 
must  perish.  Lef  us  turn  our  eyes  from  them  to  the 
purity  and  love  that  they  obscure,  and  lift  up  our  hearts 
to  these  as  the  best  things  to  which  God  has  called  us 
in  the  fellowship  of  His  Son. 


XXVIII 

CONCLUSION 

"  This  is  the  third  time  I  am  coming  to  you.  At  the  mouth  of  two 
witnesses  or  three  shall  every  word  be  established.  I  have  said 
beforehand,  and  I  do  say  beforehand,  as  when  I  was  present  the 
second  time,  so  now,  being  absent,  to  them  that  have  sinned  heretofore, 
and  to  all  the  rest,  that,  if  I  come  again,  I  will  not  spare ;  seeing  that 
ye  seek  a  proof  of  Christ  that  speaketh  in  me;  who  to  you-ward  is 
not  weak,  but  is  powerful  in  you  :  for  He  was  crucified  through 
weakness,  yet  He  liveth  through  the  power  of  God.  For  we  also 
are  weak  in  Him,  but  we  shall  live  with  Him  through  the  power  of 
God  toward  you.  Try  your  own  selves,  whether  ye  be  in  the  faith ; 
prove  your  own  selves.  Or  know  ye  not  as  to  your  own  selves, 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  3'ou  ?  unless  indeed  ye  be  reprobate.  But  I 
hope  that  ye  shall  know  that  we  are  not  reprobate.  Now  we  pray 
to  God  that  ye  do  no  evil ;  not  that  we  may  appear  approved,  but 
that  ye  may  do  that  which  is  honourable,  though  w-e  be  as  reprobate. 
For  we  can  do  nothing  against  the  truth,  but  for  the  truth.  For  we 
rejoice,  when  we  are  weak,  and  ye  are  strong  :  this  we  also  pray 
for,  even  your  perfecting.  For  this  cause  I  write  these  things  while 
absent,  that  I  may  not  when  present  deal  sharply,  according  to  the 
authority  which  the  Lord  gave  me  for  building  up,  and  not  for 
casting  down. 

"  Finally,  brethren,  farewell.  Be  perfected  ;  be  comforted  ;  be  of 
the  same  mind  ;  live  in  peace  :  and  the  God  of  love  and  peace  shall 
be  with  you.     Salute  one  another  with  a  holy  kiss. 

"All  the  saints  salute  you. 

"The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  the 
communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  with  you  all." — 2  Cor.  xiii.  (R.V.). 

THE  first  part  of  this  chapter  is  in  close  connexion 
with   what    precedes;    it    is,    so    to    speak,    the 
explanation  of  St.  Paul's  fear  (xii.  20)  that  when  he 

372 


xiii.J  CONCLUSION  373 

came  to  Corinth  he  would  be  found  of  the  Corinthians 
"not  such  as  they  would."  He  expresses  himself  with 
great  severity ;  and  the  abruptness  of  the  first  three 
sentences,  which  are  not  linked  to  each  other  by  any 
conjunctions,  contributes  to  the  general  sense  of  rigour. 
"  This  is  the  third  time  I  am  coming  to  you "  is  a 
resumption  of  chap.  xii.  14,  "  This  is  the  third  time  I 
am  ready  to  come  to  you,"  and  labours  under  the 
same  ambiguity  ;  it  is  perhaps  more  natural  to  suppose 
that  Paul  had  actually  been  twice  in  Corinth  (and  there 
are  independent  reasons  for'  this  opinion),  but  the 
words  here  used  are  quite  consistent  with  the  idea  that 
this  was  the  third  time  he  had  definitely  purposed  and 
tried  to  visit  them,  whether  his  purpose  had  been 
carried  out  or  not.  When  he  arrives,  he  will  proceed 
at  once  to  hold  a  judicial  investigation  into  the  condition 
of  the  Church,  and  will  carry  it  through  with  legal 
stringency.  **  At  the  mouth  of  two  and  (where  available) 
three  witnesses  shall  every  question  be  brought  to 
decision."  This  principle  of  the  Jewish  law  (Deut.  xix. 
1 5),  to  which  reference  is  made  in  other  New  Testament 
passages  connected  with  Church  discipline  (Matt,  xviii. 
16 ;  I  Tim.  v.  19),  is  announced  as  that  on  which 
he  will  act.  There  will  be  no  informality  and  no 
injustice,  but  neither  will  there  be  any  more  forbear- 
ance. All  cases  requiring  disciplinary  treatment  will 
be  brought  to  an  issue  at  once,  and  the  decision  will 
be  given  rigorously  as  the  matter  of  fact,  attested  by 
evidence,   requires.^     He   feels  justified   in  proceeding 


'  Although  it  is  supported  by  commentators  like  Chrysostom  and 
Calvin,  it  is  difficult  to  treat  otherwise  than  as  a  whim  the  idea  that 
Paul's  two  or  three  visits  to  Corinth  make  him  equal  to  the  two  or 
three  witnesses  required  by  the  law.     So  also  Godet,  who  counts  the 


374     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

thus  after  the  reiterated  warnings  he  has  given  them. 
To  these  reference  is  made  in  the  solemn  words  of 
ver.  2.  Enghsh  readers  can  see,  by  comparing  the 
Revised  Version  with  the  Authorised,  the  difficulties  of 
translation  which  still  divide  scholars.  The  words 
which  the  Authorised  Version  renders  ^^  as  if  I  were 
present"  (co?  irapcov)  are  rendered  by  the  Revisers 
^^  as  when  I  was  present."  All  scholars  connect  this 
ambiguous  clause  with  to  hevrepov  :  **  the  second  time." 
Hence  there  are  two  main  ways  in  which  the  whole 
passage  can  be  rendered.  The  one  is  that  which 
stands  in  the  Revised  Version,  and  which  is  defended 
by  scholars  like  Meyer,  Lightfoot,^  and  Schmiedel  :  it 
is  in  effect  this — *'  I  have  already  forewarned,  and  do 
now  forewarn,  as  I  did  on  the  occasion  of  my  second 
visit,  so  also  now  in  my  absence,  those  who  have 
sinned  heretofore,  and  all  the  rest,  that  if  I  come  again 
I  will  not  spare."  This  is  certainly  rather  cumbrous  ; 
but  assuming  that  chap.  ii.  i  gives  strong  ground  for 
believing  in  a  second  visit  already  paid  to  Corinth — a 
visit  in  which  Paul  had  been  grieved  and  humbled  by 
disorders  in  the  Church,  but  had  not  been  in  a  position 
to  do  more  than  warn  against  their  continuance — it 
seems  the  only  available  interpretation.  Those  who 
evade  the  force  of  chap.  ii.  i  render  here  in  the  line 
of  the  Authorised  Version  :  "  1  have  forewarned  [viz., 
in  the  first  letter,  e.g.  iv.  2i],  and  do  now  forewarn, 
as  though  I  were  present  the  second  time,  although 
I  am  now  absent,  those  who  have  sinned,"  etc.  So 
Heinrici.     This,  on  grammatical  grounds,  seems  quite 


three  thus :  (i)  a  warning  by  word  of  mouth  during  his  second  visit 
(2)  this  letter ;  (3)  his  actual  arrival  for  the  third  time. 
*   See  Biblical  Essays,  p.  274. 


xiii.]  CONCLUSION  375 


legitimate ;  but  the  contrast  between  presence  and 
absence,  which  is  real  and  effective  in  the  other  render- 
ing, is  here  quite  inept.  We  can  understand  a  man 
saying,  ''  I  tell  you  in  my  absence,  just  as  1  did  when 
I  was  with  you  that  second  time  "  :  but  who  would  ever 
say,  *'  I  tell  you  as  if  I  were  present  with  you  a  second 
time,  although  in  point  of  fact  I  am  absent  "  ?  The 
absence  here  comes  in  with  a  grotesque  effect,  and  there 
seems  hardly  room  to  doubt  that  the  rendering  in  our 
Revised  Version  is  correct.  Paul  had,  when  he  visited 
Corinth  a  second  time,  warned  those  who  had  sinned 
before  that  visit;  he  now  warns  them  again,  and  all 
others  with  them  who  anticipated  his  coming  with  an 
evil  conscience,  that  the  hour  of  decision  is  at  hand. 
It  is  not  easy  to  say  what  he  means  by  the  threat 
not  to  spare.  Many  point  to  judgments  like  that 
on  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  or  on  Elymas  the  sorcerer  ; 
others  to  the  delivering  of  the  incestuous  person  to 
Satan,  "  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh  "  ;  the  supposi- 
tion being  that  Paul  came  to  Corinth  armed  with  a 
supernatural  power  of  inflicting  physical  sufferings  on 
the  disobedient.  This  uncanny  idea  has  really  no 
support  in  the  New  Testament,  in  spite  of  the  passages 
quoted ;  and  probably  what  his  words  aim  at  is  an 
exercise  of  spiritual  authority  which  might  go  so  far 
as  totally  to  exclude  an  offender  from  the  Christian 
community. 

The  third  verse  is  to  be  taken  closely  with  the  second  : 
''  I  will  not  spare,  since  ye  seek  a  proof  of  Christ 
that  speaketh  in  me,  who  to  you-ward  is  not  weak,  but 
is  powerful  in  you."  The  friction  between  the  Corin- 
thians and  the  Apostle  involved  a  higher  interest  than 
his.  In  putting  Paul  to  the  proof,  they  were  really 
putting  to  the  proof  the  Christ  who  spoke  in  him.     In 


376     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

challenging  Paul  to  come  and  exert  his  authority,  in 
defying  him  to  come  with  a  rod,  in  presuming  on  what 
they  called  his  weakness,  they  were  really  challenging 
Christ.  The  description  of  Christ  in  the  last  clause — 
"  who  towards  you  is  not  weak,  but  is  powerful  in  you, 
or  among  you  " — must  be  interpreted  by  the  context. 
It  can  hardly  mean  that  in  their  conversion,  and  in  their 
experience  as  Christian  people,  they  had  evidence  that 
Christ  was  not  weak,  but  strong :  such  a  reference, 
though  supported  by  Calvin,  is  surely  beside  the  mark. 
The  meaning  must  rather  be  that  for  the  purpose  in 
hand — the  restoration  of  order  and  discipline  in  the 
Corinthian  Church — the  Christ  who  spoke  in  Paul  was 
not  weak,  but  mighty.  Certainly  any  one  who  looked 
at  Christ  in  Himself  might  see  proofs,  in  abundance,  of 
weakness ;  going  directly  to  the  crowning  one,  *'  He 
was  crucified!^  the  Apostle  says,  ''  in  virtue  of  weakness ^^ 
Sin  was  so  much  stronger  than  He,  in  the  days  of  His 
flesh,  that  it  did  what  it  liked  with  Him.  Sin  mocked 
Him,  buffeted  Him,  scourged  Him,  spit  upon  Him, 
nailed  Him  to  the  tree — so  utter  was  His  weakness, 
so  complete  the  triumph  of  sin  over  Him.  But  that  is 
not  the  whole  story  :  ''  He  liveth  in  virtue  of  the  power 
of  God."  He  has  been  raised  from  the  dead  by  the 
glory  of  the  Father ;  sin  cannot  touch  Him  any  more  : 
He  has  all  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  and  all  things 
are  under  His  feet.  This  double  relation  of  Christ  to 
sin  is  exemplified  in  His  Apostle.  ''  For  we  also  are 
weak  in  Him  ;  but  we  shall  live  with  Him,  in  virtue  of 
God's  power,  toward  you."  The  sin  of  the  Corinthians 
had  had  its  victory  over  Paul  on  the  occasion  of  his 
second  visit ;  God  had  humbled  him  then,  even  as 
Christ  was  humbled  on  the  cross ;  he  had  seen  the 
evil,  but  it  had  been  too  strong  for  him  ;   in  spite  of 


xiii.]  CONCLUSION  377 

his  warnings,  it  had  rolled  over  his  head.  That 
"  weakness,"  as  the  Corinthians  called  it,  remained  ;  to 
them  he  was  still  as  weak  as  ever — hence  the  present 
aaOevoviJLev  :  but  to  the  Apostle  it  was  no  discreditable 
thing  ;  it  was  a  weakness  *'  in  Christ,"  or  perhaps,  as 
some  authorities  read,  "  with  Christ."  In  being  over- 
powered by  sin  for  the  moment,  he  entered  into  the 
fellowship  of  his  Lord's  sufferings  ;  he  drank  out  of 
the  cup  his  Master  drank  upon  the  cross.  But  the 
cross  does  not  represent  Christ's  whole  attitude  to  sin, 
nor  does  that  incapacity  to  deal  with  the  turbulence, 
disloyalty,  and  immorality  of  the  Corinthians  represent 
the  whole  attitude  of  the  Apostle  to  these  disorders. 
Paul  is  not  only  crucified  with  Christ,  he  has  been 
made  to  sit  with  Him  in  the  heavenly  places ;  and 
when  he  comes  to  Corinth  this  time,  it  will  not  be  in 
the  weakness  of  Christ,  but  in  the  victorious  strength 
of  His  new  life.  He  will  come  clothed  with  power 
from  on  high  to  execute  the  Lord's  sentence  on  the 
disobedient. 

This  passage  has  great  practical  interest.  There 
are  many  whose  whole  conception  of  the  Christian 
attitude  toward  evil  is  summed  up  in  the  words  :  ''  He 
was  crucified  through  weakness."  They  seem  to  think 
that  the  whole  function  of  love  in  presence  of  evil,  its 
whole  experience,  its  whole  method  and  all  its  resources, 
are  comprehended  in  bearing  what  evil  chooses,  or  is 
able,  to  inflict.  There  are  even  bad  people,  like  the 
Corinthians,  who  imagine  that  this  exhausts  the  Christian 
ideal,  and  that  they  are  wronged  if  they  are  not  allowed 
by  Christians  to  do  what  they  like  to  them  with  im- 
punity. And  if  it  is  not  so  easy  to  act  on  this  principle 
in  our  dealings  with  one  another — though  there  are 
people   mean   enough    to    try   it — there    are    plenty   of 


378     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE   CORINTHIANS 

hypocrites  who  presume  on  it  in  their  dealings  with 
God.  "  He  was  crucified  through  weakness,"  they  say 
in  their  hearts ;  the  cross  exhausts  His  relation  to  sin ; 
that  infinite  patience  can  never  pass  over  to  severity. 
But  the  assumption  is  false :  the  cross  does  not  exhaust 
Christ's  relation  to  sin ;  He  passed  ft-om  the  cross  to 
the  throne,  and  when  He  comes  again  it  is  as  Judge. 
It  is  the  sin  of  sins  to  presume  upon  the  cross ;  it  is 
a  mistake  that  cannot  be  remedied  to  persist  in  that 
presumption  to  the  end.  When  Christ  comes  again, 
He  will  not  spare.  The  two  things  go  together  in 
Him  :  the  infinite  patience  of  the  cross,  the  inexorable 
righteousness  of  the  throne.  The  same  two  things  go 
together  in  men  :  the  depth  with  which  they  feel  evil, 
the  completeness  with  which  they  suffer  it  to  work  its 
will  against  them,  and  the  power  with  which  they 
vindicate  the  good.  It  is  the  worst  blindness,  as  well 
as  the  basest  guilt,  which,  because  it  has  seen  the  one, 
refuses  to  believe  in  the  other. 

The  Corinthians,  by  their  rebellious  spirit,  were 
putting  Paul  to  the  proof;  in  ver.  5  he  reminds  them 
sharply  that  it  is  their  own  standing  as  Christians 
which  is  in  question,  and  not  his.  *'  Try  yourselves,''' 
he  says,  with  abrupt  emphasis,  ^^  not  me]  iry  yourselves^ 
if  ye  are  in  the  faith ;  put  yourselves  to  the  proof;  or 
know  ye  not  as  to  your  own  selves,  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
in  you? — unless,  indeed,  ye  be  reprobate."  The  mean- 
ing here  is  hardly  open  to  doubt :  ^  the  Apostle  urges  his 

'  Another  interpretation  is  worth  mentioning.  "  Try  yourselves, 
I  say ;  put  yourselves  to  the  proof;  do  not  leave  it  for  tne  to  do 
when  I  come.  Why,  do  you  not  recognise  as  to  your  own  selves 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  among  you,  so  that  you  have  spiritual  compe- 
tence to  proceed  in  correcting  the  disorders  of  the  Church? — unless, 
indeed,    ye    are    reprobates:    which    is  an    impossible  supposition." 


xiii.]  CONCLUSION  379 

readers  individually  to  examine  their  Christian  standing. 
"  Let  each,"  he  virtually  says,  "  put  himself  to  the  proof, 
and  see  whether  he  is  in  the  faith."  There  is,  indeed, 
a  difficulty  in  the  clause,  "Or  know  ye  not  as  to  your 
own  selves,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  you  ? — unless,  indeed, 
ye  be  reprobate."  This  may  be  read  either  as  a  test, 
put  into  their  hands  to  direct  them  in  their  self-scrutiny  ; 
or  as  an  appeal  to  them  after — or  even  before — the 
scrutiny  has  been  made.  The  manner  in  which  the 
alternative  is  introduced — *'  unless,  indeed,  ye  are 
reprobates" — a  manner  plainly  suggesting  that  the 
alternative  in  question  is  not  to  be  assumed,  is  in  favour 
of  taking  it  in  the  sense  of  an  appeal.  After  all,  they 
are  a  Christian  Church  with  Christ  among  them,  and 
they  cannot  but  know  it.  Paul,  again,  on  his  side 
cannot  think  that  they  are  reprobate,  and  he  hopes 
they  will  recognise  that  he  is  not,  but  on  the  contrary 
a  genuine  Apostle,  attested  by  God,  and  to  be  acknow- 
ledged and  obeyed  by  the  Church.  Very  often  that 
temper  which  judges  others,  and  calls  legitimate  spiritual 
authority  in  question,  is  due,  as  in  part  it  was  among 
the  Corinthians,  to  inward  misgivings.  It  is  when 
people  ought  to  be  putting  themselves  to  the  proof,  and 
are  with  cause  afraid  to  begin,  that  they  are  most  ready 
to  challenge  others.  It  was  a  kind  of  self-defence — the 
self-defence  of  a  bad  conscience — when  the  Corinthians 
required  Paul  to  demonstrate  his  apostolic  claims  before 
he  meddled  with  their  affairs.  It  was  a  plea,  the  sole 
purpose  of  which  was  to  enable  them  to  live  on  as  they 
were,  immoral  and  impenitent.  It  is  properly  retorted 
when  he  says,  ''  Try  yourselves  if  ye  are  in  the  faith ;  it 


But  iavTOvs  certainly  suggests  that  in  the  implied  contrast  Paul  is 
object,    not  subject. 


38o     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO   THE  CORINTHIANS 

is  in  every  sense  of  the  word  an  impertinence  to  drag 
in  anybody  else." 

In  both  cases  Paul  hopes  the  result  of  the  trial  will 
be  satisfactory.  He  would  not  like  to  think  the 
Corinthians  ahoKifioi  ("  reprobate  "),  and  no  more  would 
he  like  them  to  regard  him  in  that  light.  Still,  the  two 
things  are  not  on  exactly  the  same  footing  in  his  mind  ; 
their  character  is  much  dearer  to  him  than  his  own 
reputation ;  provided  they  are  what  they  ought  to  be, 
he  does  not  care  what  is  thought  of  himself.  This 
is  the  general  sense  of  vv.  7  to  9,  and  except  in 
ver.  8  the  details  are  clear  enough.  He  prays  to  God 
that  the  Corinthians  may  do  no  evil.  His  object  in 
this  is  not  that  he  himself  may  appear  approved; 
indeed,  if  his  prayer  is  granted,  he  will  have  no  oppor- 
tunity of  exercising  the  disciplinary  authority  of  which 
he  has  said  so  much.  It  will  be  open  to  any  one  then 
to  say  that  he  is  dBoKifJLo^;,  reprobate,  a  person  to  be 
rejected  because  he  has  not  demonstrated  his  claim  to 
apostolic  authority  by  apostolic  action.  But  as  long  as 
they  act  well,  which  is  the  real  object  of  his  prayer,  he 
does  not  care,  though  he  has  to  pass  as  ahoicifio^.  He 
can  bear  evil  report  as  well  as  good  report,  and  rejoice 
to  fulfil  his  vocation  under  the  one  condition  as  well  as 
the  other.  This  is  only  one  aspect  of  that  sacrifice  of 
self  to  the  interest  of  the  flock  which  is  indispensable 
in  the  good  shepherd.  As  compared  with  any  single 
member  of  his  congregation,  a  minister  may  be  more  in 
the  eye  of  the  world,  more  still  in  the  eye  of  the 
Church  ;  and  it  is  natural  for  him  to  think  that  some 
self-assertion,  some  recognition  and  reputation,  are  due 
to  his  position.  It  is  a  mistake :  no  man  who  under- 
stands the  position  at  all  will  dream  of  asserting  his 
own  importance  against  that  of  the  community.     The 


xiii]  CONCLUSION  381 

Church,  the  congregation  even,  no  matter  how  much  it 
may  be  indebted  to  him,  no  matter  if  it  owes  to  him,  as 
the  Corinthian  Church  to  Paul,  its  very  existence  in 
Christ,  is  always  greater  than  he  ;  it  will  outlive  him  ; 
and,  however  tender  he  may  naturally  be  of  his  own 
position  and  reputation,  if  the  Church  prosper  in 
Christian  character,  he  must  be  as  willing  to  let  these 
dear  possessions  go,  and  to  count  them  worthless,  as 
to  part  with  money  or  any  material  thing. 

The  real  difficulty  here  lies  in  the  eighth  verse,  where 
the  Apostle  explains,  apparently,  why  he  acts  on  the 
principle  just  stated.  "  I  pray  this  prayer  for  you,"  he 
seems  to  say,  *'  and  I  am  content  to  pass  as  a  reprobate, 
while  you  do  that  which  is  honourable ;  for  I  can  do 
nothing  against  the  truth,  but  for  the  truth."  What 
is  the  connexion  of  ideas  alluded  to  by  this  "  for "  ? 
Some  of  the  commentators  give  up  the  question  in 
despair  ;  others  only  remind  one  of  the  French  pastor 
who  said  to  some  one  who  preached  on  Romans  :  ''Saint 
Paul  est  deja  fort  difficile  et  .  .  .  vous  veniez  apres." 
As  far  as  one  can  make  out,  he  seems  to  say :  "  I  act 
on  this  principle  because  it  is  the  one  which  furthers 
the  truth,  and  therefore  is  obligatory  upon  me ;  I  am 
not  able  to  act  on  one  which  would  injure  or  prejudice 
the  truth."  The  truth,  in  this  interpretation,  would  be 
synonymous,  as  it  often  is  in  the  New  Testament, 
with  the  Gospel.  Paul  is  incapable  of  acting  in  a  way 
that  would  check  the  Gospel,  and  its  influence  over 
men  ;  he  has  no  choice  but  to  act  in  its  interest ;  and 
therefore  he  is  content  to  let  the  Corinthians  think 
what  they  please  of  him,  provided  his  prayer  is 
answered,  and  they  do  no  evil,  but  rather  that  which 
is  good  before  God.  For  this  is  what  the  Gospel 
requires.     "Content,"  indeed,  is  not  a  strong  enough 


382     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

word.  "  We  rejoice,^'  he  says  in  ver.  9,  ''  when  we 
are  weak,  and  you  are  strong :  this  we  also  pray 
for,  even  your  perfecting."  '*  Perfecting "  is  perhaps 
as  good  a  word  as  can  be  got  for  KardpTtaL^ : 
it  denotes  the  putting  right  of  all  that  is  defective 
or  amiss. 

It  is  in  favour  of  this  interpretation  of  the  eighth 
verse  that  the  reason  seems  at  first  out  of  proportion 
to  the  conclusion.  With  an  idealist  like  Paul  it  is 
always  so.  He  appeals  to  the  loftiest  motives  to  in- 
fluence the  lowliest  actions, — to  faith  in  the  Incarnation, 
as  a  motive  to  generosity — to  faith  in  the  Resurrection 
Life,  as  a  motive  to  patient  continuance  in  well-doing — 
to  faith  in  the  heavenly  citizenship  of  believers,  as 
a  motive  to  separation  from  the  licentious.  In  the 
same  way  he  appeals  here  to  a  universal  moral  rule 
to  explain  his  conduct  in  a  particular  case.  His 
principle  everywhere  is,  not  to  act  in  prejudice  of 
(Kara)  the  Gospel,  but  in  furtherance  of  it  {yirep) ;  he 
has  strength  available  for  this  last  purpose,  but  none 
at  all  for  the  former.  It  is  the  rule  on  which  every 
minister  of  Christ  should  always  act ;  and  if  the  line  of 
conduct  which  it  pointed  out  sometimes  led  men  to 
disregard  their  own  reputation,  provided  the  Gospel  was 
having  free  course,  the  very  strangeness  of  such  a  result 
might  turn  to  the  furtherance  of  the  truth.  It  is  by- 
ends  that  explain  nine-tenths  of  spiritual  inefficiency ; 
singleness  of  mind  like  this  would  save  us  our  per- 
plexities and  our  failures  alike. 

It  is  because  he  has  an  interest  like  this  in  the 
Corinthians  that  Paul  writes  as  he  has  done  while  absent 
from  Corinth.  He  does  not  wish,  when  he  comes  among 
them,  to  proceed  with  severity.  The  power  the  Lord 
gave  him  would  entitle  him  to  do  so ;  yet  he  remembers 


xiii.]  CONCLUSION  383 

that  this  power  was  given  him,  as  he  has  remarked 
ah'eady  (x.  8),  for  building  up,  and  not  for  casting 
down.  Even  casting  down  with  a  view  to  building  up 
on  a  better  basis  was  a  less  natural,  if  sometimes  a 
necessary,  exercise  of  it ;  and  he  hopes  that  the  severity 
of  his  words  will  lead,  even  before  his  coming,  to  such 
voluntary  action  on  the  part  of  the  Church  as  will  spare 
him  severity  in  deed. 

This  is  practically  the  end  of  the  letter,  and  the  mind 
involuntarily  goes  back  to  the  beginning.  We  see  now 
the  three  great  divisions  of  it  plainly  before  our  eyes. 
In  the  first  seven  chapters  Paul  writes  under  the  general 
impression  of  the  good  news  Titus  has  brought  from 
Corinth.  It  has  made  him  glad,  and  he  writes  gladly. 
The  one  case  that  he  had  been  concerned  about  has 
been  disposed  of  in  a  way  that  he  can  consider  satisfac- 
tory ;  the  Church,  in  the  majority  of  its  members,  has 
acted  well  in  the  matter.  The  eighth  and  ninth  chapters 
are  a  digression  :  they  are  concerned  solely  with  the 
collection  for  the  poor  at  Jerusalem,  and  Paul  inserts 
them  where  they  stand  perhaps  because  the  transition 
was  easy  from  his  joy  over  the  change  at  Corinth  to 
his  joy  over  the  liberality  of  the  Macedonians.  In 
chaps.  X.  I -xiii.  lO  he  evidently  writes  in  a  very  different 
strain.  The  Church,  as  a  whole,  has  returned  to  its 
allegiance,  especially  on  the  moral  question  at  issue  ; 
but  there  are  Jewish  interlopers  in  it,  subverting  the 
Gospel,  and  reconverting  Paul's  converts  to  their  own 
illiberal  faith  ;  and  there  are  also,  as  it  would  appear, 
numbers  of  sensual  people  who  have  not  yet  renounced 
the  vilest  sins.  It  is  these  two  sets  of  persons  who 
are  in  view  in  the  last  four  chapters ;  and  it  is  the 
utter  inconsistency  of  Judaic  nationalism  on  the  one 
hand,   and   Corinthian   licence   on   the  other,   with   the  j 


384     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE   CORINTHIANS 

spiritual  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  explains 
the  severity  of  his  tone.  "  The  truth  "  is  at  stake — the 
truth  for  which  he  has  suffered  all  that  he  recounts  in 
chap,  xi, — and  no  vehemence  is  too  passionate  for  the 
occasion.  Yet  love  controls  it  all,  and  he  speaks 
severely  that  he  may  not  have  to  act  severely ;  he 
writes  these  things  that,  if  possible,  he  may  be  spared 
the  pain  of  saying  them. 

And  then  the  letter,  like  almost  every  letter,  hastens 
in  disconnected  sentences  to  its  close.  ''  Finally, 
brethren,  farewell."  He  cannot  but  address  them 
affectionately  at  parting ;  when  the  heart  recovers  from 
the  heat  of  indignation,  its  unchanging  love  speaks 
again  as  before.  Some  would  render  ')(alpeTe  "  rejoice," 
instead  of  "  farewell "  ;  to  Paul's  readers,  no  doubt,  it 
had  a  friendly  sound,  but  ''  rejoice  "  is  far  too  strong. 
In  all  the  imperatives  that  follow  there  is  a  reminiscence 
of  their  faults  as  well  as  a  desire  for  their  good  :  "be 
perfected,  be  comforted,  be  of  the  same  mind,  live  in 
peace."  There  was  much  among  them  to  rectify,  much 
that  was  inevitably  disheartening  to  overcome,  much 
dissension  to  compose,  much  friction  to  allay ;  but  as 
he  prays  them  to  face  these  duties  he  can  assure  them 
that  the  God  of  love  and  peace  will  be  with  them. 
God  can  be  characterised  by  love  and  peace ;  they  are 
His  essential  attributes,  and  He  is  an  inexhaustible 
source  of  them,  so  that  all  who  make  peace  and  love 
their  aim  can  count  confidently  to  be  helped  by  Him. 
It  is,  as  it  were,  the  first  step  of  obedience  to  these 
precepts — the  first  condition  of  obtaining  the  presence 
of  God  which  has  just  been  promised — when  the 
Apostle  writes,  "Greet  one  another  with  a  holy  kiss." 
The  kiss  was  the  symbol  of  Christian  brotherhood ; 
in  exchanging  it  Christians  recognised  each  other  as 


CONCLUSION  385 


members  of  one  family.  To  do  this  even  in  form,  to 
do  it  with  solemnity  in  a  public  assembly  of  the  whole 
Church,  was  to  commit  themselves  to  the  obligations 
of  peace  and  love  which  had  been  so  set  at  naught  in 
their  religious  contentions.  It  is  a  generous  encourage- 
ment to  them  to  recognise  each  other  as  children  of 
God  when  he  adds  that  all  the  Christians  about  him 
recognise  them  in  that  character.  "  All  the  saints 
salute  you."  They  do  so  because  they  are  Christians 
and  because  you  are  ;  acknowledge  each  other,  as  you 
are  all  acknowledged  from  without. 

The  letter  is  closed,  like  all  that  the  Apostle  wrote, 
with  a  brief  prayer.  '*  The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
[Christ],  and  the  love  of  God,  and  the  communion  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  be  with  you  all."  Of  all  such  prayers 
it  is  the  fullest  in  expression,  and  this  has  gained  for 
it  pre-eminently  the  name  of  the  apostolic  benediction. 
It  would  be  too  much  to  say  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  as  it  has  been  defined  in  the  creeds,  is  explicitly 
to  be  found  here;  there  is  no  statement  at  all  in  this 
place  of  the  relations  of  Christ,  God,  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Still,  it  is  on  passages  like  this  that  the  Trinitarian 
doctrine  of  God  is  based ;  or  rather  it  is  in  passages 
like  this  that  we  see  it  beginning  to  take  shape :  it  is 
based  on  the  historical  fact  of  the  revelation  of  God  in 
Christ,  and  on  the  experience  of  the  new  divine  life 
which  the  Church  possesses  through  the  Spirit.  It  is 
extraordinary  to  find  men  with  the  New  Testament  in 
their  hands  giving  explanations,  speculative  or  popular, 
of  this  doctrine,  which  stand  in  no  relation  either  to 
the  historical  Christ  or  to  the  experience  of  the 
Church.  But  these  things  hang  together  ;  and  whatever 
the  worth  may  be  of  a  Trinitarian  doctrine  which  is  not 
essentially  dependent  on  the  Person  of  Christ  and  on 

25 


386     THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   TO    THE  CORINTHIANS 

the  life  of  His  Church,  it  is  certainly  not  Christian. 
The  historical  original  of  the  doctrine,  and  the  impulse  of 
experience  under  which  Paul  wrote,  are  suggested  even 
by  the  order  of  the  words.  A  speculative  theologian 
may  try  to  deduce  the  Triune  nature  of  God  from  the 
borrowed  assumption  that  God  is  love,  or  knowledge,  or 
spirit ;  but  the  Apostle  has  only  come  to  know  God  as 
love  through  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  is 
this  which  reveals  God's  love  and  assures  us  of  it ;  it 
is  this  by  which  God  cornmends  His  own  love  to  us. 
"  No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  A/i?,"  Jesus 
said  ;  and  this  truth,  pre-announced  by  the  Lord,  is 
certified  here  by  the  very  order  in  which  the  Apostle 
instinctively  puts  the  sacred  names.  ''  The  communion 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  "  stands  last ;  it  is  in  this  that  "  the 
grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  the  love  of  God  "  become 
the  realised  possessions  of  Christian  men.  The  precise 
force  of  *'  the  communion  "  is  open  to  doubt.  If  we 
take  the  genitive  in  the  same  sense  as  it  bears  in  the 
previous  clauses,  the  word  will  mean  *'  the  fellowship 
or  unity  of  feeling  which  is  produced  by  the  Spirit." 
This  is  a  good  sense,  but  not  the  only  one  :  what  Paul 
wishes  may  rather  be  the  joint  participation  of  them 
all  iit  the  Spirit,  and  in  the  gifts  which  it  confers.  But 
practically  the  two  meanings  coincide,  and  our  minds 
rest  on  the  comprehensiveness  of  the  blessing  invoked 
on  a  Church  so  mixed,  and  in  many  of  its  members  so 
unworthy.  Surely  "  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  love  of  God,  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy 
Ghost "  were  with  the  man  who  rises  so  easily,  so  un- 
constrainedly,  after  all  the  tempest  and  passion  of  this 
letter,  to  such  a  height  of  love  and  peace.  Heaven  is 
open  over  his  head  ;  he  is  conscious,  as  he  writes,  of 
the  immensities  of  that  love  whose  breadth  and  length 


xiii.]  CONCLUSION  3S7 


and  depth  and  height  pass  knowledge.  In  the  Son 
who  revealed  it — in  God  who  is  its  eternal  source — 
in  the  Spirit  through  whom  it  lives  in  men — he  is 
conscious  of  that  love  and  of  its  workings  ;  and  he 
prays  that  in  all  its  aspects,  and  in  all  its  virtues,  it  , 
may  be  with  them  all. 


Printed  by  Hazell,  Watson^  &  Viney,  London  and  Aylesbury.  England, 


Date  Due 


BS491.E96  47 

The  second  ep,stle,o  the  Corlnttens 


1    1012  00057  4170 


